


Merry Chrysler

by blackjacktheboss, chasexjackson



Series: Christmas and Chill [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: (hopefully lmfao), Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Misunderstandings, POV Annabeth, Pining, Real Time Updates, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, yes it's another hannah/sophii AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-14 00:19:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12995694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/pseuds/blackjacktheboss, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasexjackson/pseuds/chasexjackson
Summary: It’s the twelfth of December and Annabeth is drunk.She’s not sure who’s apartment she’s in and she lost Piper about half an hour ago. She’s taken up residence on a very comfy couch and has resorted to people watching. Annabeth has been staring at the lights on a girl’s reindeer sweater for perhaps five minutes when a body slumps down next to her.She looks over to find her best friend, Percy, blinking at her sadly. She reaches over and pats his head.“What’s wrong, Pineapples?”“I’m gonna spend Christmas alone."





	1. Tuesday 12th December 2017

**Author's Note:**

> It's Christmas!! Which means it's time for Soph and I to bust out another AU :)
> 
> I'm gonna attempt to pull a Skam style on this and post each update on the actual day. There's gonna be a bit of a gap between this one and the next, but after that, it should be pretty much every day. (Future chaps will also be longer than this lmfao). Anyone who has followed my multi-chaptered fics before will know that my track record of updating is...shaky, at best. But I have a few chapters written already and really hope to keep on track with this!!
> 
> It's all plotted out but I'm not sure how many chapters there's gonna be in total yet, so stay tuned :)

**Tuesday 12th December 2017**

It’s the twelfth of December and Annabeth is drunk.

She’s not sure who’s apartment she’s in and she lost Piper about half an hour ago. She’s taken up residence on a very comfy couch and has resorted to people watching. Annabeth has been staring at the lights on a girl’s reindeer sweater for perhaps five minutes when a body slumps down next to her.

She looks over to find her best friend, Percy, blinking at her sadly. She reaches over and pats his head.

“What’s wrong, Pineapples?”

“I’m gonna spend Christmas alone. Mom’s book tour just got extended until mid January.”

Annabeth sits up and tries to keep her words not slurred. “She couldn’t get Christmas off?”

“She’s got Christmas Eve and day off but she’s gonna be in Michigan so it’s too expensive to fly home for two days. She offered but I couldn’t make her do that.”

Annabeth pats his cheek. “You’re such a good son.”

Percy droops his head to the side on the back of the couch. “I know.”

She grins and then punches his arm. “At least you don’t have to spend the Holidays in hell.”

“San Francisco is not hell.”

Annabeth gives him an _if you say so_ look, but then an idea comes to her.

“Wait, what if…what if you come with me?”

Percy frowns at her, lost. Annabeth sits up again and pats his arm enthusiastically.

“No I’m serious. It means you won’t be alone over Christmas and you can help me get through the Holidays with my family!”

“Annabeth, that’s a terrible idea.”

“No it isn’t come on!”

He gives her a look. “Why are you going if you hate it there so much?”

Annabeth sighs. “My brothers guilted me into it. I haven’t been to visit for ages and I spent last Christmas with your family so I felt bad. But come on, please help me out. Please, please, please.”

Percy groans, his head buried in the couch cushions. “Annabeth, you know I'm easily peer pressured”

“Yes, that’s why I’m asking you.”

She knows he won’t say no to her. In the three years they’ve known each other, he’s always indulged her plans and ideas - whether good or not - without much protest. Annabeth isn’t sure whether it’s down to her skills of persuasion or the fact that Percy’s impulsiveness is just as bad as hers. Worryingly, when the two of them _and_ Piper are conspiring, Annabeth is the most sensible out of the three of them. Perhaps it’s these similar traits that drew she and Percy together in the first place; having met in the first week of Freshman year and clung together for dear life all the way through college.

“Percy,” she prompts, when he’s been quiet for too long.

He’s pulling a face which she reads as _would I rather spend Christmas day alone or watching Annabeth pretend she hates her family?_ It’s a highly exaggerated thinking face. His mouth is open and his nose is all scrunched up as he looks up at the ceiling.

Annabeth flicks his ear and he bats her hand away. “Ow.”

She raises her eyebrows at him. “You looked stupid.”

“Fuck off.”

“So are you coming then?”

He groans some more. “Okay, fine.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yes.”

Annabeth jumps on him. “Yes, I’ll book us tickets in the morning. In fact, no, I’ll do it now so you can’t back out.”

Percy rolls his eyes but he’s smiling lazily at her. “You haven’t booked your tickets yet?”

She avoids his stare as she tries to unlock her phone. “I was maybe putting it off.”

“You know that’s my phone right?”

“Hm?”

He shakes his head. “How fucking drunk are you? You’re trying to unlock my phone and you’re gonna get me locked out - gimme.”

She lets him pluck the phone from her hands but stoops down to rest her head on his shoulder as he unlocks it. “Fine, we’ll look on yours then.”

Percy laughs. He’s a warm weight under her shoulder, comforting a familiar. She hooks one of her arms behind his to get more comfortable and his elbow rests against her belly. She’s so comfortable she could fall asleep right here.

That’s until someone sits down heavily on her other side. Annabeth lifts her head, but doesn’t move otherwise, to frown at the intruder.

“Well, don’t you two look cute.”

“Hi, Piper,” Percy greets kindly.

“You abandoned me,” Annabeth accuses.

Piper shrugs. “Looks like you survived without me. “Did you two finally get together or is this supposed to be platonic?”

Annabeth sits up, pulling her arm away from Percy’s and trying to ignore the way her cheeks warm up as she glares at Piper. “Shut up.”

Piper grins. “Good one. What are you guys talking about anyway?”

Annabeth can’t quite look at Percy as he answers. “Looking at tickets to San Francisco.”

“You still haven’t booked them?” Piper looks accusingly at Annabeth.

Annabeth shrugs. “I was about to.”

Percy’s shoulder bumps against hers and stops herself leaning away from the contact. She’s always more careful about how tactile she is with Percy when Piper’s around. Because Piper always comments on it and makes things awkward.

“Well,” Percy says, “Now we’re booking two tickets.”

Piper stares between them both as a slow smile spreads over her face and Annabeth regrets ever befriending her. “You’re spending Christmas together.”

“We spent last Christmas together,” Percy points out, sounding as defensive as Annabeth feels. She gets a little bit of satisfaction from that.

Piper snorts. “Yeah, I was there too though. Your mom adopted us all for three days and we slept on her living room floor. No one flew cross country.”

Annabeth shoves her. “His mom can’t make it home. I offered for him to join me and he is. It’s no big deal.”

Piper clearly doesn’t believe either of them but she rolls her eyes and shrugs. “Alright, well I’ll want a full rundown of events when you guys get back for New Years.”

Mariah Carey comes on through the speakers and Piper drags them both up to dance then, leaving the awkwardness forgotten on the couch. Annabeth forgets about it for the rest of the night, but before she passes out in her own bed, she bookmarks a skyscanner webpage for two flights to San Francisco two days after the semester ends.

 

* * *

 


	2. Saturday 16th December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for such a great response to the first chapter!! i hope you enjoy the next installment, they'll start coming more regularly now :)

 

**Saturday 16th December 2017**

Percy was the first person Annabeth met on her first day as a Freshman at college. He had a ketchup stain on his shirt and held the door to their shared building open for her as she hauled a box through. He lived in the dorm across the hall from her and due to her less than amicable relationship with her own dorm mate, she spent most of her time in Percy’s room.

Three years later and his apartment is still her first port of call when she’s feeling sorry for herself. Their friendship group has expanded, but she still calls Percy her best friend.  Which is why she’s confident that the next week and a half spent with her family should be much more bearable with Percy around. That is, if they make it there at all.

“We’re gonna miss our flight!” Annabeth yells for the third time.

She’s standing in Percy’s shared apartment with her suitcase next to her. On the couch, Frank and Hazel are watching the scene amusedly.

“What did Piper say about this arrangement?” Hazel asks, sounding innocent and looking like the devil.

“Something stupid,” Annabeth says, rolling her eyes. The day after the party, when Piper had crawled into her bed demanding Annabeth get up and make her coffee, Piper had laughed for too long and told Annabeth that she didn’t realise she’s asked for a boyfriend for Christmas. Annabeth had told her to fuck off. “Percy. Come on, please?”

Finally, he emerges with his suitcase in tow. “Okay okay, I’m ready let’s go.”

He drags his jacket on - a long grey woolen number which she loves. They hug the others goodbye and rush out of the door.

Jason, the only one in their group responsible enough to both own a car and know how to drive it, gives them a lift to the airport and they check in their bags with minutes to spare.

“See,” Percy says as they walk towards security, “You worried for nothing.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes and lets it go. They only have forty minutes before their flight so once they’re through security they browse the shops and walk straight to their gate. Annabeth managed to get the last of her presents sorted last weekend, knowing she’d be flying this weekend and wanting to save herself the stress. She was shocked to hear from Percy that he’d done the same; neither of them can call themselves particularly organised and are usually last minute shoppers.

They spend the time waiting at the gate conducting their shared favourite pastime of people-watching while Annabeth steals Percy’s chips out of the packet. She’s also trying to distract herself from the six hour flight ahead of them. She doesn’t mind flying - that’s Percy’s area of weakness - but sitting for so long in a confined space usually leaves her feeling antsy and uncomfortable. She’s glad she managed to persuade Percy to come with her for company on the flight alone.

“How’re you feeling?” she asks him after a lull in their running commentary on their fellow passengers.

He smiles over at her. “I’m alright. I’m planning on watching every movie they have to offer as soon as they’re done with the safety checks.”

“Well you have to talk to me too. I’m gonna be bored.”

“Annabeth, you can watch the films too.”

She rolls her eyes. “Work with me here, Jackson. Split your time between the movies and me.”

He sighs a deep, long-suffering kind of sigh that just makes her grin at him. “Alright, but i make no promises if they have Die Hard on there.”

They do, in fact, have Die Hard - and Die Hard 2. Annabeth agrees a compromise of watching them at the same time and leaving one earbud out so they can share the experience. She ends up leaning her head on his shoulder and watching his screen until she falls asleep halfway through Home Alone. The next thing she knows, Percy is shaking her awake and the seatbelt signs have come on. She holds his hand while they land and she can tell he’s putting all his effort into not breaking her fingers, which is appreciated.

They make it through disembarkment, baggage claim, and security unscathed and manage to hail a cab in record time. Once they’re nestled in the back seat and on the road, Percy turns to her.

“You know, I can’t believe we’re forty minutes away from your parent’s place and I still know next to nothing about your family,” he says.

“That’s not true. You know I was the Cinderella of the family and ran away four times before my twelfth birthday.”

Percy pokes her arm. “Yes, I’ve heard this many times. And how you got closer to your brothers while you were in high school and your step-mom isn’t actually evil and you’ve gotten on better with your dad since you moved halfway across the country but you still don’t feel like you know him.”

Annabeth gives him a look. “See, you know plenty.”

 _“Annabeth,”_ he whines.

She sighs, aggrieved and picks up her phone. “You already know my dad’s a history professor and my step-mom’s an event planner. You know Bobby and Matthew are Juniors in high school.”

Percy rolls his eyes. “Annabeth, that’s textbook stuff. I need to get them to like me - I need to know personal stuff, what I can talk to them about.”

“Why? They’ll like you anyway.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you’re charming when you want to be and you’re respectful and sweet.”

Percy is smiling when she looks up at him from her phone. “Aw, you’re so sweet.”

She scoffs. “Fuck off.”

“Come on, gimme something to work with.”

Annabeth sighs heavily and drops her phone in her lap. “My dad’s obsessed with world war two planes, get him started on that and he’ll talk your ear off for hours. Compliment Eve’s cooking and she’ll be butter in your hands. Matthew’s into extreme sports - mountain biking, rock climbing, the works. Bobby’s more academic but he’s still into sports - they both support the Golden State Warriors.”

“Basketball, not football. We’re off to a good start.”

Annabeth smiles. “I’m serious, they will love you. The boys are really laid back, my dad is barely present and my step-mom...well, I still don’t really know how she feels towards _me_ , so I couldn’t tell you how she’ll like you.”

Percy nudges her shoulder with his. “What have you told them about me?”

She shrugs. “I told Bobby I was bringing you and he said he’d tell his mom. I guess I’ve mentioned you before because he seemed to realise who you are.”

“That’s it? No gushing about how awesome I am?”

He’s grinning when she turns to roll her eyes at him.

They make the rest of the ride mostly in silence. They’re both tired from the flight and comfortable enough in one another’s company to not fill every moment with talking. Annabeth points out a few pretty buildings and Percy actually gasps when he sees the sea - he’s a guy with simple needs sometimes.

Then they are entering Annabeth’s family’s neighbourhood and Percy’s eyebrows get a little higher up his forehead and Annabeth tries not to squirm in her seat.

“Is this the place?” their driver calls from the front as he rolls to a stop in front of one of the three-storey, detached buildings.

Annabeth digs some cash out of her purse. “Yep, this is it.”

Percy wordlessly hands over his share and Annabeth waits for the driver to count it while Percy gets their bags from the trunk. Then she follows and they’re standing in front of her childhood home.

The thing is, Annabeth’s family is wealthy, there’s no denying it. Her father secured tenure when she was fifteen years old and her step-mother owns her business and her father inherited a lot of money from family. They’re rich. But she’s never felt like _she_ was rich as part of that.

The first time Annabeth ever felt like she was truly home was the day she stepped into her college dorm three years ago. She loves San Francisco, but it holds no real emotional tether for her.

“You didn’t tell me you grew up in a mansion,” Percy says.

Annabeth sighs and starts rolling her bag towards the front steps. “It’s not _that_ big.”

“Annabeth my apartment could fit in their garage.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

She doesn’t answer as she drags her suitcase up the steps and knocks on the front door. She gave her key back the day she left for college. The door swings open as Percy joins her at the top of the steps and they are both swept into the house by Annabeth’s brother. He grapples her into a hug which she returns before holding onto his shoulders and squinting at him.

“Matty,” she grins.

He grins back. “What gave it away?”

She bats his arm. “I’m your sister. I don’t need anything to give it away.”

He has a scrape on his elbow and dirt on his cheek which no doubt were obtained from some outdoor exercise he partook in this morning. His hair has always been a little wilder than Bobby’s too.

Annabeth turns to Percy. “Percy, this is my little brother, Matthew. Matty, Percy.”

They shake hands. “Nice to meet you man,” Percy says.

“And you,” Matthew says. “I’m surprised Annabeth is finally introducing us.”

Percy throws her a confused look and she shrugs back. Matthew is distracted from their exchange as his twin runs down the stairs, their mother following close behind. Annabeth returns her smile a little rigidly and accepts Bobby’s hug, repeating introductions with Percy. Bobby says something to Percy about treating his sister right and Eve asks how the flight was. Annabeth replies on autopilot and puzzles over her brothers’ behaviour.

The boys carry their suitcases upstairs, all the way to the top, and their mother opens the door to Annabeth’s old bedroom.

“Well, dinner is in an hour. There’s towels on the bed. We’ll leave you to settle in.”

“We’ll be downstairs,” chirps Matthew.

Then they are left alone with their suitcases in Annabeth’s childhood bedroom and a freshly made queen size bed. Percy closes the door and stares at her.

“Can you explain to me what is happening.”

“So, I think they might think we’re a couple?”

“What? Did you tell them we’re a couple?”

She throws her hands up, exasperated. “Of course I didn’t.”

“Then why do they think that?”

She starts pacing, voicing her speculations out loud. “Maybe because I brought a guy home to spend Christmas with my family with no other explanation…..and I guess….” She looks at him and sighs.

“What?”

“Well, Piper does say we act coupley sometimes, and my brother follows me on instagram so I guess...he might have seen pictures of us together and assumed?”

Percy’s face has scrunched up. “I always thought Piper was just teasing us.”

Annabeth sits on the edge of the bed. “Me too.”

“Alright, let’s look.” Percy joins her on the bed and pulls out his phone.

He brings up his instagram first and sure enough, her face makes a frequent appearance. She’s either squashed in with the rest of their friends or smiling for a selfie with Percy or, perhaps most intimately, on her own in shot - smiling at him over a cup of coffee or with her mouth open in laughter as she tosses a bunch of leaves at him or standing with the view from the top of the Empire State Building behind her. She wonders briefly if that’s how she always looks when she’s looking at Percy - happy, excited, fond.

No wonder Piper thinks they’re fucking.

Her own page reflects a parallel and despite him sitting right next to her, Annabeth can’t help but grin at some of the pictures of Percy. There’s one she took of him lying on his back, smiling lazily as he holds his hand over his face to block the sun. He’s tanned and his hair looks especially great, and his smile is so so soft. She’d captured that photo with: _naps between classes_ and remembers resisting incredibly hard to not add a heart emoji along with the sleepy one.

Their tagged photos reveals much more of the same story. Even in groups, they are usually gravitated together and Annabeth can forgive her brother for assuming they are more than just friends to each other.

But they are - just friends, that is.

Percy tosses his phone onto the mattress. “Alright, what are we gonna do?”

Annabeth lies back on the bed and rubs the heels of her hands into her eyes. Her vision goes static like a TV without signal. “I don’t think I can bear telling my step-mom”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s so embarrassing! She already thinks I’m a loser. Oh god.”

She feels Percy shifting on the bed next to her legs. “Well what if… what if we didn’t tell them? What if we just went with it?”

Annabeth removes her hands and peers up at him. “What?”

Percy shrugs and stands up, stuffing his hands into his pockets and facing away from her. “I mean, it’s only for like a week and a half right? We could just fake it and they’d be none the wiser.”

Annabeth stands up and steps around him, searching his face for doubt or guilt. She doesn’t want to trick him into this. “Are you sure?” she asks slowly.

He offers her a small smile and sounds sincere when he tells her, “Yeah, Annabeth. It’s not that much of a hardship. I mean, apparently we pass as a couple anyway so it shouldn’t be that difficult.”

There are countless ways this could backfire but Annabeth doesn’t let herself think about them right now. She thinks about mumbling through an explanation over dinner with her family and the awkward silence that would follow. She thinks about the kind-but-pitying expression on her step-mother’s face when they have to set up the sofabed for Percy. And she lets herself look at the earnest expression on Percy’s face and believes that he is genuinely willing to go along with this facade for her.

“Okay,” she says, eventually. “Sure. Let’s do this.”

She holds out her hand and Percy shakes it, his smile bemused. “Let’s do this,” he echoes.

* * *

 

 


	3. Monday 18th December 2017

**Monday 18th December 2017**

The next couple of days pass, surprisingly, without any drama. Percy and Annabeth are mostly able to lay low in the house as Annabeth’s parents are working and her brothers still have a few days of school before they break for the holidays. 

Annabeth shows Percy around the city, taking him down to the bay where they witness a proposal in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and then walk all the way back into the city. They visit Alcatraz and ride in a street car, hanging off the side like kids, and scour around Pier 39 for a while, paying too much for little trinkets in the shops there.

They’re mostly unsupervised so don’t have to worry about how they act around each other and Annabeth feels relaxed and happy she brought Percy with her to keep her company. It’s been a while since they’ve spent time together just the two of them and she’s reminded of how much she really does enjoy his company; it’s always so easy between them. 

It’s also the first time in weeks she’s not been stressed and anxious about finals and the prospect of spending Christmas with her family. Now, with Percy as a buffer, it seems strange that she was dreading it so much. She supposes time apart has exaggerated the rift between herself and her family. That along with some miserable childhood memories leaving her to associate this place with resentment and loneliness, had really been what was been setting her on edge about returning this year for Christmas.

But Percy makes things easier, without even trying to.

It’s all going great until Eve announces that they’re all attending a Christmas party hosted by her company at the Boat Club the following evening. That means formal wear and lots of people to introduce her  _ boyfriend  _ to and a significant amount of time spent around others. Annabeth isn’t overly enthused at the prospect.

“I thought you were joking about bringing a suit,” Percy whispers to her once her step-mother has left the room.

She turns to him, wide eyed. “You did bring it, right?”

He laughs at her reaction. “Of course I did. When have I ever not followed your instructions?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Do you want me to list alphabetically or chronologically?”

“Shut up.”

“So, Percy,” Bobby interrupts. He’s sitting in the armchair adjacent to their couch, his legs hanging over the arm, a picture of comfortable ease. “How do you feel about meeting the relatives?”

“There’s gonna be relatives?” Annabeth asks.

Bobby gives her a look like,  _ Yeah, duh _ , and returns his attention to Percy. “They’ll love you anyway, man. Don’t sweat it.”

“Uh, yeah,” Percy says. “I guess I feel alright. I managed to get you guys not to hate me.”

“You sure did! And I’m sure you’ll be more charming than Annabeth is at these events.”

Annabeth throws a cushion at him. “Hey, fuck you. I can be charming.”

Percy wraps his arm around her shoulder and kisses the side of her head. “Yes you can,” he tells her.

She’s so taken aback by the gesture that she doesn’t register Bobby’s cooing in the background. She looks at Percy and he smiles, raising his eyebrows a little. Annabeth reminds herself that this is how they’re supposed to be behaving and that Percy did it for her brother’s sake. She returns his smile and sticks her tongue out at Bobby before leaning into Percy’s side. 

This is familiar territory at least. Annabeth spends probably an inordinate amount of time hugging Percy. But this time it  _ is  _ different. They’re not drunk or surrounded by their friends which means that firstly, Annabeth is hyper aware of all the places they are touching, and secondly, no one is there to throw curious gazes or teasing comments when Annabeth’s hand rests on Percy’s thigh or Percy’s fingers start running through Annabeth’s hair.

It’s...strangely liberating.

When she was little, her dad and step-mom had never been affectionate with her. She wasn’t hugged and kissed and tucked into bed at night. She wasn’t neglected, she was just left to feel like she wasn’t loved. It wasn’t until college that she started being tactile with her friends and then it was only because she managed to befriend the most touchy feely people in the entire state of New York. 

It had taken her a surprisingly short amount of time to not only become used to their hugs, but to crave them when she hadn’t had them for a while. Their first winter break of college had been the longest week of her life, spent in San Francisco with her family while her friends were hundred of miles away. The day she flew back in, Percy had picked her up from the airport and she’d flung herself into his arms and held on for far too long. She’d then proceeded to spend the rest of the day wrapped up in Piper’s bed with her.

She hadn’t realised how touch starved she’d been until people had started to hold her. Now it’s second nature to lean against her friend’s sides and play with their hair and rest her legs over theirs on the couch.

So right now, leaning against Percy with his arm around her, she just feels safe and cared for. It also feels like the most natural thing in the world.

The living room is cozy and warm with the log fire lit on the opposite wall; sending out little crackles from behind the glass and blanketing a calming atmosphere over them all. Bobby has put a nature documentary on and the deep voice of the narrator soothes Annabeth into a doze as she rests her head on Percy’s shoulder. His fingers are brushing gently up and down her arm and he’s warm and well...she can’t really be blamed for falling asleep.

She’s woken up what must be hours later by Percy softly saying her name. She wipes her mouth, realising horrifyingly that she dribbled a little bit, and sits up.

“Sorry,” she says blearily.

“It’s okay,” he says, smiling.

She looks around the empty room. The fire has burned down to embers, barely glowing at all, and the TV has been switched off. It’s quiet, the sort of quiet it gets when you’re the only one awake. 

“What time is it?” she asks him.

Percy checks his watch. “A little after midnight.”

She groans. “Jeez. I’m sorry, how long did I all asleep on you for?”

He laughs. “A couple of hours, I guess. Bobby went to bed about half an hour ago.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

Percy doesn’t answer right away and she looks over at him. His expression is unfathomably soft. His mouth quirks up in a little smile and he shrugs one shoulder.

“I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t let you sleep on my shoulder.”

Right. Yes. Keeping up appearances. He couldn’t very well shove her off in front of Bobby. Though he didn’t need to wait another half hour to wake her up.

“Well,” she says, offering a small smile. “Thanks. I guess we should go to bed.”

“Yep.”

They shut off the last remaining lamp and tiptoe up to the top of the house. Percy, always the gentleman, offers her the bathroom first and she takes a moment to compose herself. They’ve done this routine for two nights now and there’s nothing different about it this time. They can just carry on with how things have been for the past few days: taking turns to use the bathroom and changing separately before climbing into the enormous bed and falling asleep with a decent amount of space between them.

Annabeth takes her time washing her face and brushing her teeth. Then she stares at her reflection in the mirror.

“Chill the hell out,” she tells herself.

But when she goes back out and tells Percy the bathroom is free, he walks past her with a smile and nothing about her is calm. In fact, the place on her shoulder which his arm brushes against tingles long after he’s closed the bathroom door and she finds herself staring at the pile of clothes he’s left on the floor next to his side of the bed. His underwear still tucked into his jeans, sweater and t-shirt crumpled next to them and it’s all so strangely intimate.

She hadn’t expected this part. She’s been in Percy’s bedroom countless times, has seen his underwear to boot, but something about this feels different. She’s being exposed to another side of him that she hadn’t been before. Where she would normally go home to her own bed or he’d offer up his own for her to take the couch, she’s peeking behind the curtain at Percy just before bed and first thing in the morning. It’s all overwhelmingly domestic and she just...hadn’t anticipated what this would feel like. Holding hands and cuddling in front of her family is the show on stage, easily separated into not real. This behind the scenes element to their fake relationship is unboundaried and blurry, she doesn’t know what to do with it.

Annabeth changes quickly into her pyjamas and plugs her phone in to charge and gets into bed, lying as far over to her side of the bed as possible. When Percy emerges, already dressed for bed, and switches the light off, her heart is still jack-hammering in her chest. The mattress bounces as he gets in and a waft of cool air sweeps under the duvet as he gets underneath it. Then he settles down and silence washes over them.

“Good night,” he mumbles, sounding halfway to sleep already.

“Good night, Percy.”

She barely sleeps a wink.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there'll be another update tomorrow :)


	4. Tuesday 19th December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for the support you guys!! i'm glad you're enjoying it :)
> 
> i'm currently writing christmas eve and fully aware that the days are creeping up on me lmfao so pray for me to keep this up

 

**Tuesday 19th December 2017**

When Percy walks into the bathroom in his suit Annabeth’s knees almost buckle. 

She’s seen him dressed smartly before but this is...different. His suit is new - an early Christmas present from his parents - and dark blue. It’s nicely fitted and worn over a white shirt and red tie. His hair is neatly styled and his eyes are piercing - even in the low light. He looks divine.

“Annabeth?” he says it like it’s the second or third time.

_ Yikes. _

She blinks and replaces her mascara in its tube. “Sorry. You look great.”

The tips of his ears go pink as he smiles. “Thanks. So do you.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes. She’s still wearing a dressing gown as she finishes her make-up. “I’m nearly done. You go downstairs, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Alright. Don’t forget your purse is on the dresser.”

“Thanks.”

He shoots her another smile and disappears. A moment later, the door to their room closes and Annabeth has to pinch herself for how ridiculously domestic this all feels. She shakes her head and finishes applying her mascara.

Her dress is laid out on the bed. It’s dark red in colour - the same as Percy’s tie - with a tight fitting bodice and a skirt that flares out, stopping at her knees and falling longer at the back. The top is lace and high around her neck so she pairs it with some gold hoop earrings which Piper gave her for her birthday and her watch.

She feels nice in this dress. It cinches in at the waist and the skirt has plenty of volume to give her an hourglass figure rather than her normal straight up and down body shape. She turns a few times in the full-length mirror, watching the skirt bloom out as she spins, and smiles at her reflection. Her name is called from downstairs so she pulls on her shoes and grabs her purse from the dresser and rushes down the several sets of stairs.

They’re all waiting in the hall for her. Her step-mother in a pretty green dress, checking her watch, her dad wearing a plain black suit but looking smarter than usual with his hair combed back. Her brothers look truly identical in their suits, only discernible by their different coloured ties - one red one green.

And then there’s Percy, looking as amazing as he did three minutes ago. He’s the first to spot her and she doesn’t miss the way his mouth goes slack as he stares up at her.

There’s a whistle from one of her brothers and Annabeth tries not to blush as they all watch her descend the rest of the staircase.

“You clean up alright, sis,” one of the boys comments. She hasn’t gotten close enough yet to figure out who is who.

“Not so bad yourself,” she says.

Eve is the closest to her when Annabeth reaches their level. She offers a smile. “You look lovely, Annabeth.”

“Thank you. So do you.”

It’s awkward for a horrible moment until Eve looks down at her watch again. “Right, let’s go.”

They all rush to the door and Percy hangs back to help Annabeth into her coat.

“You look amazing,” he says, sounding earnest, and that horrible blush is back on her cheeks.

She smiles at him. “Thank you. We match,” she says, straightening his tie.

He nods. “Yes we do. We’re a great couple.”

He’s staring right at her as he says it, his green eyes flitting back and forth between hers. His hands are resting lightly on her shoulders after having helped her into her coat and she can feel the warmth of his touch even through the thick material. She can just feel all of him, everywhere. His gaze seems to touch her all the way down to her toes and she has no idea why or how this became so intense but it feels like they’ve been staring at each other for a lifetime.

Usually, when she looks at Percy, she feels like she can read his mind. They can share looks which hold entire conversations in a room full of people who have no idea what’s passing between them, but right now, standing in the empty hall of her parents house, dressed up to the nines, she has absolutely no idea what’s going through his head.

Before she can try to figure it out, one of the twins sticks their head back through the door. “Come on, guys. Mom’s gonna bust a nut.”

Annabeth blinks, breaking eye contact with Percy as he releases her.

“Lovely,” she mutters under her breath.

Then they’re following Bobby or Matthew outside and bundling into the waiting car. Annabeth is pressed right up against Percy for the whole journey and she spends it staring out the window and trying not to think about what just happened. Trying not to think how many people she’s going to have to talk to tonight and how green Percy’s eyes are and how she’s going to say to people over and over again:  _ This is my boyfriend, Percy. _

She spends so long thinking about it that they arrive at the venue before she’s really had a chance to regroup and when Percy offers his arm to her, she stares at him for a beat too long before holding onto his elbow.

They’ve arrived a little earlier than everyone else so that Eve can check everything is setup properly. The room looks incredible; a long oak table takes up one side, laiden with expensive looking cutlery and festive place settings, the other half of the room is left open for people to mingle before they sit down to eat. At the end, framed by large windows onto the bay, is a large Christmas Tree with red and gold decorations. Annabeth thinks back to the little plastic tree in her apartment back home with it’s mismatched baubles and cardboard star sitting crooked on top. She, Piper, and Hazel drag it out every year and drink several bottles of wine while they decorate it.

She doesn’t suppose anyone was drunk decorating this beast.

All too soon, guests are arriving and Annabeth is being introduced by her step-mother or her brothers to various strangers and relatives she has vague recollections of. She kisses a lot of cheeks and hugs a lot of sweaty middle aged men and keeps a smile fixed on her face for far too long.

It’s all mildly draining but what keeps her alert is the fact that what follows “You remember Annabeth?” is, “And this is her boyfriend, Percy.” And every single time, something rattles around in her belly. Butterflies? Wasps? Bullets? She’s not sure, but she keeps her arm linked through Percy’s and smiles politely and tries not to drink too much champagne.

“What are these supposed to be?” Percy asks her, pointing at a plate of food as is passes by on a waiter’s hand.

“Calamari. Don’t eat it, you won’t like it.”

Percy pulls a face. “Is everything here seafood?”

She turns to him. “I’m sorry. You’ll get to choose the meal options.”

“I’m hungry now though.”

Annabeth laughs. “You’re such a child. Quit whining.”

He frowns. “Don’t be mean.”

She opens her mouth to respond but is cut off by someone nearby saying her name excitedly. She turns away from Percy, breaking the little bubble they had created for themselves, to greet their intruder. She vaguely recognises the woman in the sparkly gold dress approaching them with a friendly smile on her face. She must be in her thirties, with cropped brown hair currently adorned with a festive headband with little reindeer antlers. Annabeth can’t pinpoint where she knows her from but she seems to know her.

“Annabeth, how are you?”

“Oh hi! Um…?”

The woman takes pity on her and smiles. “Jenny Fisher. I used to babysit you, Bobby, and Matty.”

Recognition rushes through her. “Oh my god, of course you did. I’m so sorry, my memory is awful.” She remembers her manners at last and touches Percy’s arm. “This is Percy, my boyfriend.”

Strangely, it’s the first time she’s introduced him herself all night. The words feel sticky in her mouth.

Jenny smiles and exchanges polite greetings with Percy.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Percy says, grinning. “I’m gonna have to get some baby Annabeth stories out of you at some point.”

“Oh, I have plenty of those don’t you worry. So how long have you two been together?”

Percy answers before Annabeth can. “Two years,” he says.

Two years. Just casually, without any pause.

Annabeth’s grip on his arm tightens and he glances at her. She keeps her smile in place and manages to keep up conversation with Jenny about her classes at college until Jenny excuses herself to say hello to another guest. 

She’s barely left their space when Annabeth grabs Percy’s arm and drags him out of the room. She shoves him inside the first bathroom she finds and follows him in, locking the door behind her.

“This bathroom has four sinks,” Percy is saying. “Why are there four sinks?”

_ “Two years? _ Why did you say two years?”

Percy looks away from the sinks and blinks at her. “What. What were you gonna say?”

She throws her hands up. “I don’t know. Not  _ two years.” _

“What’s wrong with two years?” he asks, looking at her like she’s gone crazy. He looks far too calm for Annabeth’s liking. She’s freaking out, why isn’t he freaking out?

“I don’t know, this just…” She takes a deep breath. “This changes things. Two years is really serious and it could bring up a lot more questions like: why aren’t we living together and are we gonna get married and have we thought about kids and personal shit that you don’t ask a couple who have only been together for six months.”

Percy’s expression is finally tinted with a bit of panic and Annabeth actually feels relieved that he’s getting on her level at last. Shared panic is better than lonely panic. Just as he starts chewing on his lip - a habit reserved for last minute submittal of papers and finals prep - there’s a loud knock on the door, startling them both.

“Uhh...occupied!” Percy shouts. 

Then he returns his attention to Annabeth and sighs through his nose. “Alright, alright. I know this isn’t something we prepared for but nothing has really changed, right? We’re still pretending to be a couple, the timelines have just changed a little.”

Annabeth frowns. “A lot.”

“I mean, in fairness, we didn’t have any established timelines. And we’ve known each other for three years so it’s not that much of a leap.”

“Stop being reasonable.” She scowls.

Percy smirks just a little. “Sorry.”

“Whatever. Okay, we’ll just. Agree the basics now and figure out the details later.”

Percy shrugs. “Sure. shouldn’t be too hard.”

Annabeth gives him a pointed look and he smiles back nervously.

Someone knocks at the door again, more insistently this time, and it launches Annabeth’s nervous energy into irritation. 

“There are other bathrooms,” she snaps loudly. “This one is busy.”

Percy sighs. “Well, now they think we’re having sex.”

Annabeth cringes, holding her face in her hands. “It works for the cover I guess?”

A moment later, he’s tugging her hands away from her face and offering a small smile when she looks up at him. His thumbs track gentle circles on the back of her hands, helping her to take a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. She only realises how close together they’re standing when she looks up at him again, her eyes catching on the swoop of hair falling across his forehead. On instinct, she reaches up to push it back into place and watches as Percy’s eyelids droop.

They jerk out of it at the same time and move away from each other. Percy stuffs his hands into his pockets, clearing his throat, and Annabeth leans up against the nearest sink.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s do this and get back out there. We’ve been in here for way too long.”

Percy nods. “Yes. Okay. So, why aren’t we living together?”

“Um. My lease was two years and we’re gonna move in together when it runs out next june?”

“Got it. Why aren’t we getting married?”

Annabeth raises her eyebrows and smirks. “Shouldn’t I ask you that question?”

“That’s very gender stereotypical of you Annabeth.”

She laughs and rolls her eyes, the knot in her chest loosens a little more. “Okay, well we’re only twenty one and we’re not living together so I think that’s an easy out. But we’ve talked about it and see a future together.”

His “Yeah,” is far too gentle and earnest sounding. It flurries up butterflies in her stomach that she wills down again.

She clears her throat. “What about kids?”

Percy’s eyebrows pull up as he thinks. “I think we can play the young card on that one too right? No one expects us to have kids yet.”

Annabeth nods. “I don’t think I’d be ready to consider that if we actually  _ were  _ in a two year relationship to be honest.” She laughs nervously and the air fills with awkward static. 

In that instant she also pictures a baby boy with her hair and Percy’s eyes and she has to snap herself out of it.

“Okay,” Percy says. 

“Okay. What about how we got together?”

Percy swallows and she watches his profile carefully while he bites his lip. “Well if we got together two years ago that would be first semester of sophomore year.”

“Right. So, obviously I asked you out.”

He turns to her, frowning. “What do you mean  _ obviously?” _

“Percy.”

“Annabeth.”

She sighs. “Remember when you almost threw up just at the thought of asking Rachel out Freshman year?”

“...What’s your point.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes and starts to answer but is interrupted by a noise like a little bell being rung from the main room. They both tilt their heads towards the door to listen as someone announces that dinner will be served shortly.

“We should get out of here,” she says.

“Right.” He wipes his hands on his pants and checks his reflection in the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” she says dryly.

Percy sticks his tongue out at her and crosses to the door. Annabeth is glad that some of the built up tension from before has fizzled out; she couldn’t walk back into that room feeling so nervous, it would be clear as day on her face that something’s not right.

She follows Percy to the door and watches him unlock it and peek out to check the coast is clear. Presumably it is, because he opens the door wide and walks straight out. Annabeth waits a couple of seconds and follows, but is nearly given a heart attack when her name is called from the hallway behind her.

Percy is already gone so she turns alone to find her little shit of a brother standing with his hands in his pockets next to the open bathroom door. He’s got a terrible smile on his face.

“I can’t believe you had sex at mom’s Christmas party. You’re such a rebel.”

Annabeth walks up to him and grabs his face between her hands. He’s a little shorter than she is in her heels. She squints at him.

“Bobby,” she says, finally establishing who is who. He’s wearing the red tie.

He grins at her, nodding.

“We weren’t having sex,” Annabeth says, releasing him. “We were just talking.”

He rolls his eyes. “Annabeth, I’m not twelve any more.”

She raises her eyebrows at him. “Oh really? Then you’ll know that I wouldn’t be looking like this if I had just had sex in a bathroom.”

His face scrunches up. “Gross.”

Annabeth grins. “Yep.”

But before she can escape, Bobby grabs her arm. “Wait,” he says, looking a little awkward.

“What is it?”

He sighs, looking pained as he tries to figure out his next words. “I just...Is everything alright between you guys? I know I don’t know you all that well, but you seemed a little...tense? I don’t know - and then I saw you rushing back here and it looked like an argument.” He frowns and runs a hand through his hair, looking slightly distressed. “I just wanted to make sure things were okay?”

Annabeth couldn’t help but smile, her heart swelling in her chest. Her relationship with her half-brothers hadn’t been the easiest, but they really are the sweetest to her and make every effort to make her feel included in their family.

She puts her hand on his shoulder. “You’re so sweet.”

He knocks his head to the side, bashful. “I’m alright, I guess.”

Annabeth smiles. “Percy and I are fine though. I guess... we’re just adjusting to being affectionate in front of my family.” She’s surprised at how easily the lie comes to her. “It’s not something I’m used to.”

“Oh,” he says, sounding relieved. “Well that’s dumb. You know we don’t care about that.”

She laughs. “Good to know.”

“Let’s get food, I’m starving.”

She agrees and follows him back inside, but his comments start to worry beneath her skin. She hadn’t really been thinking much about how she and Percy had been interacting over the past few days. Other than falling asleep on him on the couch last night, they haven’t been affectionate at all - less so even than they are at home. Though it usually takes alcohol for them to become clingy and tactile with one another.

They’ve been acting as they do normally as friends. But, despite Piper’s insistence, that’s not actually enough to pass them off as a couple.

The whole room is already seated at the large table when she walks back into the room and she spots her empty seat between Percy and Jenny. Annabeth steels herself as she walks over and rests her hand on the back of Percy’s chair as she pulls out her own. Before she sits though, she leans in and presses a kiss to his cheek, returning his look of surprise with a sweet smile.

If they’re gonna have to step things up, then she may as well start now.

* * *

 


	5. Thursday 21st December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my fav chappy yet :)))

**Thursday 21st December 2017**

On Thursday, they drive up to Lake Tahoe where Annabeth’s family rent a cabin for a few days before Christmas every year. Annabeth hasn’t been for a couple of years, but she remembers the trip spent mostly by herself. She often stole herself away to read or snowboard alone. Perhaps this year would be different.

The drive takes hours and Annabeth spends most of it leaning against Percy, resting her head on his shoulder and her hand on his thigh, playing idly with his fingers. 

After the party, they had both gone straight to bed before they could discuss anything, so the next morning Annabeth took Percy for a walk and relayed her conversation with Bobby.

_ “So we need to be more physical?” he asks as they bump shoulders. _

_ “Yeah. Like we’re an actual couple.” _

_ “Okay so...like this?” He puts his arm hesitant around her shoulder. _

_ She laughs. “That’s good.” _

_ “Okay.” He kisses the side of her head. “How’s that?” _

_ “Also good.” _

_ They carry on walking down the street with his arm over her shoulder and it’s a little awkward. _

_ “Why is this weird?” he asks. “We do this all the time.” _

_ “I don’t know! Maybe because we’re overthinking it?” _

_ “How do we get around that?” _

_ “Fuck if I know. Maybe we’ll get more used to it the more we do it?” _

_ “Practice makes perfect?” _

_ She laughs, holding onto his hand as it hangs over her shoulder. “Practice makes perfect,” she repeats. _

And well, it does, actually.

They went back to the house after that and sat on the couch with their legs overlapping. Percy starts greeting her with a kiss on the cheek when she walks into a room - they’ve avoided any lip kisses so far. She touches his shoulder or his waist or his leg when she stands or sits next to him, he rubs her neck and shoulders and plays with her hair and presses his thigh against hers.

Annabeth is halfway torn between falling so easily into this that it feels real and feeling every nerve in her body burn at each moment of contact.

After nearly five hours of travelling - and cursing every other person who decided to drive today - they make it to the cabin and it’s smaller than Annabeth remembers. Or perhaps she’s just older and feels bigger, somehow. It’s still as beautiful as she remembers though; a classic log cabin with steep pointed roofs draped in fresh snow with a path leading them right out onto the slopes. 

As they all shuffle inside and claim rooms, Annabeth can’t help but notice that hers and Percy’s bed is much smaller than the one they’ve been sharing at her parents house. She digs out what she needs from her bag and mentally logs that away as a problem to be dealt with later, closing the door neatly behind her.

They had set off before the sun rose so it’s still early enough to get out onto the slopes for a few hours after they eat a quick lunch.

“Don’t you look adorable all wrapped up,” Annabeth tells Percy as they drag their boards down the path towards the fresh slopes.

Percy grins at her. “Likewise, Chase.”

“I’m looking forward to watching you fall on your ass.”

He scoffs. “You know I’ve ridden a skateboard since I could walk and I’ve done this before.”

She grins at him. “You’re still gonna fall on your ass.”

He does, in fact, fall on his ass. But so does she. She’s out of practice - she insists, as he laughs and laughs, the asshole. He still looks cute though; in his navy jacket and ski pants with snow caught in his eyelashes and coating his gloves. Even as he tackles her into the snow, he’s cute, laughing hysterically like a child as she shrieks at him and shoves a fistful of snow in his face. His grin is all smiles and his eyes squint so they’re almost closed and he’s so damn cute.

She’s not sure if she’s ever noticed it this viscerally before.

He hovers over her for perhaps too long until Bobby and Matthew are threatening to leave them behind. But his eyes hold hers for a moment and she doesn’t really care that her family is waiting for them and people are speeding down the slope around them and that the cold is seeping through her layers of clothes. She doesn’t really care because the rest of the world sort of shuts off when he’s this close to her and he is all the warmth she really needs. 

Eventually, Percy gets up and helps her up too and they share an awkward laugh as they brush themselves off and pick up their boards so they can catch up to Annabeth’s family.

Later, after having acquired a few bruises and numb fingers and toes, they all traipse back to the cabin and take turns having showers. It’s all incredibly domestic and not something she’d previously noticed or appreciated about this trip. She bumps shoulders with Eve in the hallway and hears her father singing off-key in the shower and listens to her brothers arguing over who’s best at lighting the log fire from the lounge as she steps out of the bathroom. 

When she walks into hers and Percy’s bedroom wrapped in a fluffy towel, she doesn’t even consider the idea that Percy might be in there. But he is. And he’s just about pulling his boxers over his ass. 

“Fuck!” she yelps, turning around to face the door. “I’m so sorry! I should have knocked!”

Yes, she totally saw his ass.

Behind her, Percy actually laughs. “Annabeth it’s fine. I’m…decent, you can turn around.”

And well, she’s not sure  _ decent _ is the right word. He’s still standing there in his boxers, reaching down to pull his sweatpants from his suitcase. She can’t help thinking about how if he’d been facing the other way then she would have gotten a full view of, well...not his ass. 

As she’s trying to rid her mind of that thought, she’s struck with another one - possibly more alarming than the last. Objectively, she thinks she’s seen Percy in this level of undress before; walking bleary eyed into his kitchen in the morning where she’d been sitting nursing a coffee after sharing Hazel’s bed the night before, or when they’d stripped down to their underwear to swim in the college pool one night. Or when she’s let herself into his room to drag him out of bed in the morning to go for breakfast.

But those times had been accompanied with hangovers and drunken adrenaline and hunger driven impatience. Now she’s just stripped bare - both metaphorically and almost physically - and she can’t really breathe.

Percy’s body is lithe and toned, not as skinny as she’d thought, and freckled with goosebumps. He pulls his pants on over his long legs and her gaze is forced up over his defined stomach and chest to his face. By the time he looks up at her, she knows her face is bright red, but she can’t look away yet. Little droplets of water fall from his hair onto his shoulders and drip lazily down over his collarbones and it’s hypnotic.

“Can I, um…” he trails off and she snaps her gaze to his, noticing the way his eyes glaze over her legs and her shoulders and her chest. The towel she is using is really far too small. He clears his throat. “You mind if I borrow your towel? I hung mine up already.”

Annabeth panics, holding the towel wrapped around her body tighter. “Um?” she says, too high pitched.

Percy’s eyes go wide. “No, fuck! I mean the one on your head - I didn’t dry my hair properly and...fuck, I’m sorry it doesn’t matter.”

Annabeth’s breath comes whooshing out of her in a nervous laugh. “No, it’s fine.” She lets out another shaky laugh as Percy visibly relaxes. He’s still standing there without a shirt on and despite the chill in the room, his cheeks are blooming with colour.

Annabeth holds onto her towel with one hand and reaches up to tug the one wrapped around her hair with the other. It’s all tucked under though, so it proves a little more difficult to get free.

“Here,” Percy says, stepping towards her. 

He uses both hands to carefully untuck the towel at the back of her head and ease it loose. Annabeth stands there, her hand joining the other to clutch at the towel around her body as warmth radiates off Percy’s chest, so so close to her own. Her damp hair tumbles down her back and Percy looks down at her. It’s not just the cold raising the hair on her arms as his eyes flit over her face. Tension fills up the space around them, between them, like static electricity and Annabeth doesn’t want to move, doesn’t want to break this - whatever this is. 

He’s never looked at her like that before, all bare and open and confused. 

Or maybe she’s confused.

Because she has no idea what this means. This isn’t hands clasped or arms around each other or kisses to cheeks for the sake of an audience. This is intimate privacy. This is just them, standing inches apart, wearing far too few clothes and just breathing as they stare at one another and water drips from their hair onto the wooden floorboards.

Her mouth feels impossibly dry and so do her lips. Her tongue darts out to wet them and Percy’s eyes follow the movement. Then he’s blinking and stepping backwards.

“Uh, thanks,” he says, sounding shaky.

Annabeth shivers involuntarily. “Yeah,” she says, turning away as Percy scrubs the towel through his hair.

She doesn’t watch as he pulls a t-shirt and a sweater on. She keeps her back turned and doesn’t really move until he’s left the room with a quiet, “See you downstairs.” Then she falls back onto the bed with a groan, wondering what in the hell just happened.

* * *

 

By the time Annabeth gets downstairs, her whole family is set up on the couches in the living room. Her father is in the arm chair in the corner, Bobby and his mom occupy one couch while Percy and Matthew sit on the other. On seeing her, Matthew immediately jumps up and takes residence between his brother and his mom instead, throwing her a grin as he does.

Annabeth resists rolling her eyes as she crosses the room to take his empty spot. She tries hard not to think about their awkward moment in the bedroom as she sits down next to Percy. 

The room is cozy with the log fire crackling away and a movie is playing on the TV, casting a soft, comfortable glow over them. She doesn’t look at Percy as she leans against him and wills her heartbeat to slow down. Percy’s arm comes around her shoulder and she lets her hand rest on his thigh while tucking her own legs up on the couch. Slowly, slowly, she relaxes against his side and tries to focus on the movie.

It’s just Percy, she reminds herself. They’ve sat together like this a dozen times over the past few days, and countless times before this holiday. It’s just Percy, her friend. It’s fine. 

The film they’re watching is a Christmas film - Miracle on 34th Street, one of her step-mother’s favourites, and one Annabeth has seen countless times in her childhood. It eases a sense of sentimental comfort over her, like a warm blanket. Despite her rocky relationship with her family, she does still have some fond memories from her childhood.

About thirty minutes in, Percy taps her shoulder. She looks at him questioningly and he smiles. “Bathroom break,” he says quietly, before slipping out from next to her.

She hadn’t realised quite how much she’d been leaning on him until he’s gone. The couch feels too big and too cold, so she shuffles over to the arm where Percy had been sitting and tucks her legs closer to her body.

A few minutes later, her step-mom stands. “I should check on dinner.”

Annabeth springs up almost immediately. “I’ll give you a hand.”

And, well, she’s never been that great in the kitchen, and she’s never offered herself up for alone time with her step-mom, so the looks they all throw her are not completely unwarranted. She ignores them anyway and follows her slightly bewildered step-mother out of the room. 

Just as she’s walking out though, Percy walks back in and they almost collide. He grabs her shoulders, smiling as he shifts around her. 

“Oh look, mistletoe,” her brother says. 

And oh, she could kill him. 

Slowly, hers and Percy’s gazes are drawn upwards towards the innocent sprig of weeds hanging from the beam above their heads. 

“Well, now you have to kiss,” her brother adds helpfully. She resists the powerful urge to send him a glare because yes she  _ knows _ that, thank you very much. 

Percy is still holding onto her shoulders. He slides them down her arms until he’s clasping her hands, looking unsure as his gaze flits over her face. Her step-mom is lingering in the doorway to the kitchen so they have a full audience for this. Fortunately, Percy looks just as nervous as she feels. 

They haven’t kissed before, not on the lips. 

Before the moment can drag out any longer, Annabeth rocks up onto her toes to meet Percy’s height, keeping their hands interlocked. There’s an impossibly soft moment, eased out like honey, when their foreheads touch and their noses push together as they figure out which way to tilt their heads. And then his breath comes out as a little puff against her lips. And then they’re kissing. 

It’s closed mouths and breathing through their noses as their lips slide together and push and pull and it lingers on and on and Annabeth feels warm all the way down to her toes. He tugs her closer by their interlocked hands and she melts against him, feeling a dozen little pieces inside her slot into place perfectly. 

And then it’s ending, and she’s staring into green eyes and feeling her thrumming heartbeat in her chest. 

The deafening quiet around them climbs up against her ears and she realises that this was a kiss probably too intense for a couple caught under the mistletoe. 

She breaks eye contact and pulls away from him. Percy ducks his head, endearingly shy, and slowly lets go of her hands. 

“Merry Christmas,” he says quietly. 

Annabeth smiles. “Merry Christmas.”

He retreats to the couch and she watches him for a moment before following her step-mom into the kitchen. 

She’s giving her an inscrutable look when Annabeth stands next to her to start peeling carrots. 

“What is it?” Annabeth asks, trying hard not to sound too irritable. Her lips are still tingling. 

“Nothing, just.” She smiles. “It looked like you’d been waiting some time for that kiss.”

She has no idea. 

* * *

 

The thing is, when Annabeth first met Percy, she had a pretty big crush on him. 

It couldn’t really be helped; he was cute and sweet and funny and they spent inordinate amounts of time together, never seeming to run out of things to talk about. But she’d not really wanted to start dating the first guy she saw on campus and she’d been wary of fracturing very new friendships. She’d also not been sure if the crush had been mutual. So it had made sense to squash those feelings and let them subside. 

And they had, over time. She’s always enjoyed being in Percy’s company and he’s become her best friend. She’s never thought about trying to change that. 

But she’d be lying if she hadn’t thought about how nice it might be to kiss him. She’s usually drunk when the thought crosses her mind and it’s easy to brush off because she’s looked at Piper like that once or twice too. 

So when she’s getting ready for bed later that night, after they’ve eaten dinner and watched another Christmas film, she reminds herself of this. She’s had a crush on him before and they’ve been friends since. She can’t let their current circumstances void her judgement. All of this is just for show. All of Percy’s actions, his looks and touches and - now - kisses, are for the benefit of her family. And her feelings - whatever they are - are in a strange Christmas vacuum, disproportioned by their situation and all the false attention he is giving her.

This isn’t real, she has to remember that.

As she climbs into bed and watches Percy emerge from the bathroom, dressed in cozy looking pyjamas, she makes sure to keep this at the forefront of her mind.

“So um,” she starts, getting Percy’s attention. “Before with the mistletoe, that was…”

Blush floods to Percy’s cheeks and he starts to smile as he scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he says.

“Yeah,” she goes on. “That was a great fake kiss. They, uh - they totally bought it, so...good job.”

And she feels like a total ass, but she really doesn’t know how else to dissipate this weird tension that’s suddenly built itself between them.

“What?” Percy blinks at her. “Oh, right...thanks.”

She smiles. It’s a hundred times more awkward. Great job, Annabeth.

Percy switches off the main light and climbs into bed, making sure his phone is plugged in before settling on his back. They’re shoulder to shoulder on the cramped mattress and Annabeth can already feel the duvet lifting away from her, exposing her side to the cold room. This bed really is a lot smaller than her one at her parents; in that one, they could happily occupy their own sides of the bed without disturbing the other.

But this is ridiculous.

Percy’s shoulder is warm through the cotton of their shirts but the rest of her where he isn’t touching is cold. Percy keeps fidgeting with his hands, laying them by his sides then over his stomach and back to his sides again.

She sighs. “This is ridiculous.”

He freezes. “Sorry.”

“No, I mean.” She turns on her side and looks at him as he turns his head on the pillow. “I’m cold and this bed is too small. We should just spoon or something because one of us is gonna end up on the floor or with icicles on our bits.”

Percy laughs. “Alright.”

He mirrors her position and then hesitates, so she takes the lead. She lifts her head off the pillow and lets him slide his arm under her neck. After that, they slot together pretty easily. Although they’ve never shared a bed before this trip, they have shared a cramped couch and a tent and a small space on Piper’s floor, so this position isn’t entirely unfamiliar.

Annabeth ends up with her face tucked against his neck, her arm tucked around his waist with her legs pushed between and over his. The duvet falls neatly over them both and she’s finally warm. Warm like the way she was when he kissed her earlier that evening; all the way down to the toes she has pressed against his calves.

This isn’t really spooning, but neither of them comment on that.

She feels impossibly cozy, a stark contrast to the chilly awkwardness that had raised goosebumps on her arms a few minutes ago. Slowly, Percy’s breathing above her steadies out and she listens to him fall asleep, rubbing her hands over his spine gently. She smiles into the skin of his exposed throat, feeling calmer and more settled. She listens to his slow breaths and lets her breathing match up with his.

She’s asleep within minutes.

* * *

 


	6. Friday 22nd December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W2jONIjrM0) is the Bryan Adams song mentioned, if you're interested :)

**Friday 22nd December 2017**

On their second night at the cabin, Percy and Annabeth decide to head down into the resort to try out the bars. Annabeth has always been too young on her previous trips here so she’s never ventured from the cabin after dark. She and Percy also feel that a Christmas drink is well overdue, so they need no further excuse.

Eve suggests they all go into the town together to eat dinner before Percy and Annabeth separate off, and Matthew has asked everyone to don their Christmas Sweaters for the occasion. Which finds Percy and Annabeth digging through their bags while the others wait downstairs.

“I’m so glad we bought these in Freshman year,” Percy says, his voice muffled as he sticks his head halfway into his backpack before emerging triumphant with his sweater in hand.

Annabeth, already pulling hers over her head, stares at him as realisation dawns on her. “Aw, fuck,” she says.

“What?”

“We bought matching sweaters three years ago. What is wrong with us?”

Percy’s face scrunches up. “That’s a really coupley thing to do, right?”

“Do you think that’s why James broke up with me?”

“James broke up with you because he didn’t like that you were smarter than him.” He pulls his sweater over his head and stands next to her in front of the mirror. “Aw, fuck.”

“Yep.”

Their sweaters are navy blue with a single reindeer across both; Annabeth has the front end and percy the back. It’s antlers and tail are decorated with tinsel and lights and they look, well, ridiculous.

Annabeth sighs. “Let’s do this.”

Annabeth’s family is overjoyed with their sweaters. Bobby insists they pose for several photos, one of which Annabeth may or may not insist that he sends to her because she and Percy look great in the cozy light with their indulgent grins. She sends it to Piper who replies with several rolling eye emojis and nothing else. Bobby sends her the rest of the photos he took and she’s momentarily halted by one where they’re looking at each other with too fond expressions, arms around each others waists, sweaters marrying up perfectly. She decides to set it as her lockscreen, reasoning to herself that it’s what she would do if they were actually in a relationship and her family are sure to see her phone.

Eventually, they all don their coats and head out into the cold. Frederick drives them down to the small town located a twenty minute journey from the cabin and they play Categories all the way there, yelling over one another about which rules they’re using and who’s cheating and who’s winning.

Annabeth is buffeted between her brothers as they enter the restaurant but she ends up sitting next to Percy. They lean over the menu together and laugh at their own poor pronunciations of the French words in most of the options. The restaurant has clearly attempted to lean into a French Alps theme but seems a little off the mark with the football banners hanging behind the bar and the seven burger options. It’s nice though, the right kind of loud and laid back enough for the waitress to come over and laugh at Percy and Annabeth’s sweaters enough that she gets them drinks on the house.

While they wait for their food to arrive, Annabeth keeps her chair shifted closer to Percy’s and leans into the arm he has around the back of her chair. She has to allow for elbow room though, when their meals do arrive and she laughs as he nearly spills his drink to make room for his plate and leans over to kiss him.

It’s a thing they do now, now that it’s been done before in such dramatic fashion. Percy has already kissed her over breakfast and she had kissed him when he brought her a hot chocolate after they got back from snowboarding all day. Her family doesn’t bat an eyelid, but Annabeth’s stomach somersaults at Percy’s small smile when she’s pulled away. A small peck of lips shouldn’t have this much of an affect, but she supposes she’s still just getting used to it.

The rest of the meal passes pretty uneventfully, they share a dessert and try to be as gross as possible about it. Matthew actually throws a napkin at them.

“I think that went pretty well,” she says under her breath as he helps her into her coat.

Percy grins at her when she turns around. “It’s the sweaters. They really sell the couple thing.”

“That and sharing the dessert.”

“We always share desserts.”

And, well. Yeah, they do.

She’s not sure what that means either.

They decide to head a little further into town where the bars are situated, which means parting ways with her family outside the restaurant. They all hug goodbye with promises not to be back too late. After, they walk down the street with Percy’s arm over her shoulders and hers tucked around his waist for far longer than is necessary for the benefit of her family. In fact, they stay that way all the way to the bar where Percy holds the door open for her and she’s met with a wall of noise and warmth.

They hang up their coats and head over to the bar together, easing through the crowd by keeping their hands linked. The crowd at the bar forces them to stand chest to chest and Annabeth finds herself not shying away. She leans in close to tell him what drink she wants and he nods, replying with a comment about the music. She ruefully tells him she’s gonna get him on the dance floor and he rolls his eyes, nonetheless unprotesting. This all feels awfully familiar but with a fresh lick of paint. They’ve gone to bars together countless times, even been squashed together like they are now, but never under the pretense of being in a relationship before. Never has she let her hand linger in his or tucked her arm around his waist or leaned her forehead against his shoulder while they wait.

Or maybe she has, but only when so drunk that her filters have dissipated, her concept of personal space with them.

The night clouds around them, pressing them close and blurring the edges. It feels easy to rest her hand on his arm and to lean against him and to link their fingers. It feels nice and normal and in her mind Annabeth knows that none of this is necessary. It’s like something unspoken has passed between them, to both turn their backs on the elephant with its eyebrows raised in the corner of the room. She knows that if they acknowledge this then they’ll have to step apart, they’ll have to dissect what all of this means. And she doesn’t want to do that. 

She wants to keep drinking and regaling old stories from their three years of getting drunk together and keep getting into his space too much. 

It’s when she’s getting their fifth - sixth? - drink from the bar while Percy goes to the bathroom, that a little bit of their bubble is poked at by an outsider. 

“Nice sweater,” a deep voice comments to her left. 

Annabeth turns to see a guy with floppy blonde hair leaning against the bar next to her. The look on his face only means one thing. Objectively, he’s attractive. Any other time, she’d probably lean into his space and let him flirt with her and maybe hook up with him if he made her laugh enough. 

She throws him a small smile, not wanting to be mean. “Thanks-”

“Can I get that drink for you?” he asks as two bottles are placed in front of her. 

She hands over a bill to the waiting bartender. “Sorry,” she tells the guy. “My other half is over there.” She indicates her sweater and savours the confused expression on his face for a moment before collecting her change and pocketing it. She grabs the bottles and shoulders her way through the crowd to where Percy is waiting next to a tall table. 

“You alright?” he asks her when she reaches his side. 

She nods and takes a long pull of her drink. “Yep.” 

She wonders what Percy’s reaction might be if she told him she nearly got hit on at the bar. She wonders if it would be his usual reaction of, “Yeah, get some!” accompanied by a high five. She wonders if he would be sad, annoyed, jealous?

(She wonders if that’s just how she would feel if their roles were reversed.)

She doesn’t want to think about Percy hooking up with someone else right now. In the past, she’s been a pretty good wing woman for him, putting in the good word and deterring him from people she knows would fuck him over. After their first few months of knowing each other, Annabeth really wasn’t bothered seeing Percy with other people. Really. Well, most of the time she wasn’t. When he dated Stephanie from her algebra class for a month, Annabeth wanted to die - but that’s because Stephanie is the worst, no other reason. Annabeth has made breakfast for a couple of his one night stands and they double dated a few times. Piper claims that Annabeth has scared some of Percy’s dates off, but she doesn’t believe her.

She’s been totally chill about Percy dating, but now it makes her stomach churn.

The idea of someone chatting him up at the bar, leaning in close to whisper in his ear or touch his arm or kiss him- 

“Are you alright?” Percy asks her, jolting her out of her reverie.

Annabeth blinks at him and nods. She downs the rest of her drink and grabs his hand. “Let’s dance,” she says.

_ “Annabeth,” _ he whines. 

She tugs on his hands. “Come  _ ooon.” _

He follows her with a long suffering sigh, still smiling nonetheless, into the crowded dance floor.

They’re buffeted against each other and are mostly shifting their weight amongst the other fifty or so drunk people around them. She lets the alcohol do its work and shakes out the anxiety clenching a fist in her chest, dancing wildly to whatever song comes on. Percy laughs at her when she grabs his hands and manhandles him around, shaking his shoulders and poking his sides and it’s easier. It’s familiar. Her chest loosens and she forgets what she had been so worried about.

About an hour later, after they’ve hung their sweaters up along with their coats, a Bryan Adams song comes on and they collectively lose their shit. It’s one of the songs Annabeth listened to a lot when she was younger and added to her Freshman playlist when she’d been struggling through her first few months at college. She and Percy rinsed that playlist during their first semester and now they sing along to every line of the song at the top of their lungs in each other’s faces, grins greedy and infectious. 

Annabeth feels giddy and euphoric. The kind of happy you only feel when you’re drunk and singing along to one of your favourite songs with your best friend. The kind of happy that makes your whole body feel light and full at the same time, the kind of happy that spreads the smile so widely across your face that it hurts. The kind of happy you want to be able to catch in a bottle to revisit but never can - it’s special because it’s uncapturable, it’s free.

So when the song fades into something else, something deeper and more sensual, Annabeth doesn’t think twice about wrapping her arms around Percy’s neck and shifting closer. They’re both still grinning as they pull each other in, mirroring other couples around them. Annabeth shivers as their hips knock together and don’t part again and the air between them shifts. Having removed their sweaters, leaving Percy in a t-shirt and her in a camisole. Annabeth is pointedly aware of how little material is between them. The easy joy that has bubbled between them fizzes into something more intense and they’ve never danced like this before. 

She’s never had her hips lined up with his, rocking together with astounding ease. She’s never felt his hands press against the base of her spine, firm and gentle at once, never felt his hot breath against the side of her face as they press their temples together. 

It’s that unspoken agreement again. They’re both pressing together and losing themselves in the heat and the noise and the easiness of it all without considering what will happen after they step outside of this bar. Annabeth doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to think about that. She wants to stay right here in this exact moment with Percy’s body pressed against hers, forgetting the rest of the world and the fact that this is absolutely not something that best friends do. 

She just wants to stay right here. 

It’s like how she’d woken up this morning with her body curled around his, her nose pressed against the soft material of his t-shirt, his hands holding onto her where they rest around his middle. As the smell of coffee and the sounds of morning voices murmured outside their bedroom door and the white light started filtering in through the window, Annabeth had only pressed closer, not wanting to leave just yet.

Everyday, Percy keeps pressing closer to her, with his hands and his smile and now his kisses, and all Annabeth wants to do is keep him here, close.

She’s beginning to fear the day she’ll have to push him away again.

* * *

 

They do have to leave the bar, eventually. 

Leaving the dance floor doesn’t really break the tether between them though, as Annabeth had anticipated it would. Songs have played since that one and they’d drifted apart easily, still close together and touching one another in some way or another for most of the night, exchanging quiet smiles and reassuring touches. 

They keep their hands linked as they find their sweaters and coats, and wind their arms around each other as they walk down the street. They hug for warmth at the bus stop and Annabeth falls asleep on Percy’s shoulder on the journey home, holding onto his hand in her lap. 

On the long walk from their stop to the cabin, they race each other through the snow and stuff snow down each other’s backs and their laughs probably wake several cabins but Annabeth doesn’t care. She just doesn’t care. 

They manage to get into the cabin fairly quietly and tip toe up the stairs, giggling as they bump into walls and banisters. Annabeth’s almost too exhausted to change into her pyjamas but she perseveres, not even waiting for Percy to leave the room as he changes too. 

And then they’re climbing into bed together and rolling into the middle without a second thought. Percy’s arms come around her as they had the night before and they just fit, nice and neatly, into each other’s spaces. She cuddles closer to him still, letting out a happy sigh as her feet start to warm up and pressing her face against his throat.

“Good night, Perce,” she mumbles, barely coherent. 

Percy kisses the top of her head and she actually sighs. 

“Night, Annabeth.”

* * *

 

 

 


	7. Sunday 24th December 2017

 

**Sunday 24th December 2017**

Everyone wakes up early on Christmas Eve to get a few hours on the slopes before they have to make the drive back to San Francisco. 

As she has done for the past few days, Annabeth wakes up with her body pressed against Percy’s, this time in the circle of his arms, buried in his warmth. He complains and groans when their alarms go off and pulls her in closer, pressing his face against her neck. She wonders if he realises that the gesture raises goosebumps all over her skin, despite the cocoon of duvet and blankets they are wrapped in together. His nose rubs a slow line down her neck towards her shoulder where her collar has stretched and Annabeth’s breath hitches. 

“I wish we could just stay here,” he murmurs, voice thick with sleep and making her melt against him. 

And it’s stuff like that which confuses the hell out of her. Because, damn it, she wishes that too. She wishes she could wrap herself up in him and roll over to face him and press her lips to his skin, ignoring his morning breath as he laughs and captures her lips with his own. She wishes and she doesn’t know why she does. She doesn’t know where these longing feelings have come from and how they’ve developed so quickly and strongly. Two weeks ago, she couldn’t imagine doing anything other than elbowing him to get off her and complaining about how bad his breath smells. 

Two weeks ago he was her best friend.

Now he’s…something she doesn’t know how to define.

Fake boyfriend, crush, potential  _ real  _ boyfriend?

On top of all of this though, is the nagging doubt. Is the conviction that this is all fake; that they’ve agreed to be a convincing couple which involves cuddling and kissing and finding each other’s eyes from across the room. There’s also the voice in her head which tells her that Percy asking to stay right here in bed all day is his lazy ass not wanting to get up and venture out into the cold.

Eventually, Annabeth sighs. “That would be nice. But we agreed to get up early so…”

Percy groans. “Alright, alright. I don’t think we should trust our past selves, but fine.”

And slowly, he peels his body away from hers and climbs out of bed, leaving her cold and empty and feeling far too dramatic for her own good.

Percy stands next to the bed and stretches his arms above his head, making little groans as his joints and muscles click and pull satisfyingly. His sweatpants have dragged down slightly on his hip and when his t-shirt pulls up, she’s left exposed to the sight of the trail of hair running down from his belly button and the dips on the insides of his hip bones. She lets out a little noise and immediately tries to cover it up with a yawn, closing her eyes and stretching against the pillows to avoid making eye contact with him.

“Right,” he says, all casual, “I’ll take the bathroom first then.”

“Okay,” she squeaks.

He grabs a towel and some clothes before leaving, then she’s left in bed by herself. As soon as the door closes, she throws the comforter over her head and groans loudly. She’s an idiot, a full on moron. 

She really needs to stop falling for her best friend.

* * *

 

Lunch is sandwiches and a beer at a bar, still mostly wrapped up in their layers with Percy’s ankle hooked around hers as her family chats around them. It’s sunburnt faces and cold noses and feeling warm all over. It’s stupid jokes and Annabeth running down the agenda for tomorrow and Percy whispering in her ear to tease her about pretending to hate her family.

Afterwards, they head back up to the cabin and pack pretty quickly, throwing their belongings in suitcases as Eve shouts at them all to hurry up or they’ll get stuck in traffic again. It’s Christmas Eve, they’re always gonna get stuck in traffic, but Annabeth doesn’t want to be the one to point this out to her. It’s just past one when they eventually pile into the car and get on the road again, waving goodbye to the cabin for another year and, for the first time, Annabeth finds herself looking forward to returning here.

In her lap, she rubs her thumb over the back of Percy’s hand and smiles at his soft hum. She’s reminded of the night before: still riding it a bit of a hangover that had lasted all day, they’d found a cheesy romance book in the little study and curled up together on the couch in front of the fire. Reading parts of it aloud together with their limbs tangled, they’d not paid mind to the world around them. She’d been absorbed in the little space they’d created together. She feels much the same way now. 

Half an hour into the journey, Percy nods off on her shoulder, his weight slack against her. She feels a special kind of trusted and can’t help the smile creeping onto her face. She also can’t help but press a kiss into his messy hair, letting herself stay there for a moment too long.

When she looks up, Bobby is watching her with a small smile. Annabeth blinks at him, feeling like she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t. In the past, when she’s been too drunk and too clingy and too affectionate, she’s been met with Piper’s knowing look and has furiously avoided eye contact and kept away from Percy for the rest of the night. Her brother isn’t about to call her out though, she has to remember.

“I’m glad you guys are good,” he says quietly.

Annabeth’s heart settles in her chest. She knows her smile is incredibly fond as she brushes back some of Percy’s hair. Her voice is too soft when she says, “Me too.”

Bobby smiles and looks back out the window as Annabeth’s heart goes into double time. She looks down at Percy sleeping soundly against her, feeling like she never wants him to move again, and realises that not only is she falling, but she’s fallen, head first into feelings for him. And not only does she not know how to get back out, but she’s not sure she wants to.

_ Fuck. _

* * *

 

When Percy had woken up and apologised for dribbling on her shoulder, Annabeth had giggled -  _ giggled _ \- and almost fallen out of the car in her hurry to get out of his space. Fortunately, the car had been parked outside the house, saving her from a very embarrassing and painful accident.

She’s manages to avoid him for most of the afternoon while they all unpack the car and start making dinner. Matthew and Bobby take Percy out to brave the Christmas Eve shops for a few last minute things for tomorrow and she has a few hours of reprieve. While he’s gone, she busies herself doing laundry and setting the dinner table and tries her best not to think about how much she misses him the whole time.

It’s really becoming ridiculous.

Even more ridiculous is how much her heart flutters when he walks back into the kitchen, arms laiden with grocery bags all wrapped up in layers of clothes. She rushes to help him and smiles when he thanks her earnestly. And if she blushes when he kisses her cheek before turning away to take off his coat, then no one has to know.

And if she thought she’d felt relieved when he’d been gone, well - she was wrong. Because this feeling now, while they move around each other seamlessly, putting groceries away, this feeling is relief. Just being in a room with him again, seeing him smile and listening to him rant about the volume of people in the store and making him laugh by teasing him about sounding like a grumpy old man. This feeling is settled. This is comfort and familiarity that comes with knowing somebody for three years and spending almost every day with them.

This is love, she thinks.

Platonic or romantic or familial. She doesn’t know, but she lets herself stay in it. She wills down the panic and the unsurety because that can be dealt with later, she can figure it out once they’re outside of this bubble. Once they’re back in New York and living their lives as best friends again, and not a couple in a two year relationship. She’ll start untangling the mess of her heartstrings then.

For now, she’s just going to enjoy this. Whatever it is.

Later, when they’ve all eaten dinner and migrated to the living room, Matthew dives into the cupboard holding the board games and pulls out the Newlywed Game which erupts cheers from everyone.

Their teams are as follows: Eve and Frederick, Matthew and Bobby, Percy and Annabeth.

Although they’re not an actual couple, nevermind newlyweds, Annabeth feels pretty confident going into this game.

Bobby and Matty go first and put up a pretty good fight. They’re twins and spend a great deal of their time together, so it’s not hugely surprising. But even then, they’re stumped by a few questions. Eve and Frederick go next and are a little embarrassingly bad; Annabeth isn’t sure her dad fully understands the game and he gets quite a few answers wrong which should be obvious. Eve doesn’t get frustrated though and appears to be slightly endeared by the whole thing.

“Alright,” Bobby says, after they’re done. “Percy and Annabeth you’re up!”

Percy nudges her as they climb off the couch and they share a grin, both feeling cocky. They each take a whiteboard and pen and stand back to back, making a little show of shoving at each other for a minute before Bobby calls their attention. 

“Alright, let's start off easy. When and where was your first kiss.”

And well, fuck. She hadn’t seen that one coming. They’d discussed how they got together (just before Christmas break in Sophomore year) and even their first date (breakfast in their favourite diner). But their first kiss is completely undefined. 

After panicking for a moment she realises that behind her, Percy is scribbling away on his whiteboard. Figuring the worst that will happen is her claiming she has terrible memory or a playful argument over who’s right, she uncaps her pen and decides to go with the truth - almost. 

“Alright. Show us your answers!” Matthew declares. 

She spins her board around to everyone and glances down at Percy’s, heart thumping in her chest. And there, in his messy scrawl, is the answer that sends her heart into double time. 

_ Under the mistletoe. Christmas party, Sophomore year.  _

“One point to you guys,” Matthew says, nodding to his mom to record the score. 

Annabeth’s gaze pulls up from Percy’s board to find his face, finding him doing the same. He has a surprised grin on his face that she knows matches hers and a mad twinkle in his eye that makes her feel warm all the way through. 

Which is another ridiculous thing. 

They get a few easy ones after that which gain them several points and Bobby becomes increasingly excited every time they get the same answer.

Percy’s Favourite film: Lilo and Stitch. Annabeth knows because he makes her watch it with him every time he’s sick. It wasn’t until the third or fourth time that she really understood why it means so much to him. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten. Percy lives by those words.

Annabeth’s favourite film is an architecture documentary which she has saved to her hard drive and doesn’t expect Percy to get right, so the surprise on her face is genuine when she sees the name of it on his board. 

He shrugs modestly. “I don’t think it counts as a movie but she insists, so.”

The blush on Annabeth’s face could probably be seen from space. She ducks her head and rushes Matthew onto the next question.

“Percy, if you could describe your spouse in one word, what would it be?”

Oh, well. She’s a bit stumped on that one. Argumentative? Smart? Stubborn? Percy seems to be having as much of a hard time as she is, leaning against her shoulder as he taps his pen against his board. In the end, Bobby has to prompt them and she scribbles down sarcastic on a whim. Percy writes down something too, letting out a little sigh that she wonders at the meaning of. When they turn to face her family, Percy is biting his lip and holding his board so it’s tilted away from her.

“I, uh- well. I couldn’t think of one word to sum you up, so…”

And written in his slanted writing is one word that trips Annabeth’s heart into knots.

_ Everything. _

“Oh my god, Percy.” She shoves his shoulder, lost for what else to do.

He grins, looking sheepish and she can’t help but lean over and kiss him, right there in the middle of this stupid game while her family watch them. When she pulls away, Percy takes a moment to open his eyes again and his dopey smile spreads slowly over his face. Again, it takes a cleared throat from Eve, this time, to bring them back into the room.

“Right, um,” Matty says. “Where would your spouse choose as a dream vacation.”

Alright, this one’s easy. Annabeth writes down her answer for Percy before her own dream holiday of Athens. Her family laugh when they show their boards.

“Atlantis,” Bobby asks, confused. “Like the water park in the Caribbean?”

Annabeth laughs as she rolls her eyes. “No. Atlantis as in the lost city.”

Percy shrugs. “It’s called a  _ dream _ vacation, not a realistic one.”

“Alright,” Matthew calls their attention again. “Who eats the most junk food?”

Another easy one: Percy.

“What’s the last movie you saw together? Not including while you’ve been here,” Matty amends, grinning.

Still, it’s another easy one: Home Alone on the plane.

“Which of your body features does your spouse like the most?”

Hm. Another one she has to think about. Not for her own favourite: she’s been quite vocal about Percy about how lovely his eyes are. But she’s not sure what he likes about her the most. In the end, she decides to play it safe with her hair, but she’s wrong.

Percy’s cheeks are bright pink when he squeaks, “Actually, it’s your legs.”

And she thinks back to the other night when he’d borrowed her towel and openly stared at her legs below the short towel. Really, it’s not that left field: she’s often been complimented on how nice her legs look and it doesn’t take much to convince her to wear a short dress or shorts. It’s not strange at all for Percy to agree with that, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t knock her off balance a little.

Because if Percy appreciates her body physically then...does that mean he’s attracted to her? In the same way she’s gradually realising she’s attracted to him. 

“Who usually gets their way?” Matthew asks, interrupting her inner turmoil.

She scrubs the last answer off her board and scribbles down her own name, knowing for certain that Percy will be writing it too. He does, and it makes Annabeth pause for thought. Because Percy can be as stubborn as her sometimes, but he ends up following her into any idea: good or bad. He’s just so loyal and happy to follow her lead, never uttering a complaint - or, well, rarely uttering one. She’d once gotten them stranded on the side of the road in mid winter after their car had broken down and they’d ended up sleeping on the back seat, huddling for warmth, after Percy had complained about his, quote,  _ balls nearly freezing off _ . Mostly though, he trusts her wholeheartedly.

She’s never really thought about that before. 

He even followed her here, to spend Christmas with people he’d never met before, just to make things better for her. He’s just so, so kind. To everyone, but especially to her, even when she doesn’t deserve it. Even when they’re studying for finals at two am and she’s whiny and snappy, he makes her a coffee and orders pizza for them. They do argue, when they’re both in bad moods and wind each other up into even more irritable moods. But she feels like Percy puts up with a lot of her crap.

The next question, sort of cements this even more: “What is one thing that your spouse does for you that they hate, but does because you love it?”

Annabeth thinks about the place they spent most of their time in this semester and goes with the library for her answer. She thinks on her answer for Percy for a moment before deciding on the movies. It’s cold and loud and she has to concentrate the whole way through, which she always struggles with, preferring to watch something at home that she can pause every now and then to get up and do something else. She also much prefers the seating arrangements available on a couch under a blanket, but she keeps that one to herself.

They get that one right and Matthew announces that the last question for them and she and Percy wipe their boards, turning their backs to one another again. Percy shoves his butt against hers and she shoves back, grinning though he can’t see her.

“What’s your definition of ‘And they lived happily ever after’?”

All Annabeth can think about is the conversation they once had about why they chose their topics of study at college. Percy had told her about his passion for the ocean and wanting to contribute to the preservation of its inhabitants. She had told him about adding her own mark to the already immense skyline of Manhattan. She’d talked about her passion for creating something so much bigger than herself that would last much longer after she’s gone from this Earth.

She doesn’t really expect Percy to write the same answer as her, but she writes down what she’d told him then anyway and Percy-

Percy, sweet boy that he is, he remembers.

He remembers what she’d told him, almost three years ago over a coffee while they’d both been procrastinating from reading for their next days classes. Something that means the world to her but, really, to him, was a couple of words told within an unremarkable conversation. Or so she’d thought.

So when she looks at his whiteboard and sees her dream written in his handwriting, Annabeth’s heart doesn’t stand a chance.

_ Something permanent. _

He remembers.

* * *

 

They’d won by miles and Percy had picked her up and swung her around when Eve announced it. Annabeth had clung to him with her arms around his neck and felt her breath whoosh out of her. He’d set her down and kept his hands on her waist as she regained her balance and some of her dignity. They’d done their special handshake and gloated in an unattractive way, heading to bed smug and happy.

“It’s pretty crazy how we know each other better than a married couple,” Percy comments, later, when they’re tucked up in bed.

Annabeth laughs. “They didn’t put up much of a competition.”

“Hm.” She feels him roll over to face her and does the same. 

They’re lying with their hands between them, knees bent together and just touching. Percy’s face is soft and sleepy, smushed into his pillow. He has a little smile on his face, one that’s just hanging on by a thread as he fights tiredness. Annabeth reaches over and brushes a line down his nose with the tip of her finger before tapping the end of it once. His smile widens the smallest amount and his eyes droop closed. As she pulls her hand away, he catches her wrist and tugs her closer and well, it really can’t be helped.

As she has done for the past few nights, she falls against him, pliant and comfortable and it’s so, so easy. To fit into the crevices of him. To wrap herself into his warmth and sigh gently as he pulls her closer still.

Annabeth thinks, as the dregs of sleep pull her in, that this might be the thing she misses the most, after all of this is over.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol SORRY this is so late, soph and i are chasing our tails with this fic now so i'm off to write the next couple of days wish me luck!!
> 
> if you pay attention, you'll notice i've added the total chapter count. this /may/ change but it's what i'm aiming for
> 
> lemme know what you thought of this chapter! hearing your feedback is great :) you can reach me and soph on our tumblrs too: [sophii](https://blackjacktheboss.tumblr.com) [hannah](https://ananbeth.tumblr.com)


	8. Monday 25th December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I hope everyone is having a lovely day and enjoying the festivities :)

**Monday 25th December 2017**

Annabeth is the first of them to wake on Monday morning, stirring slowly and comfortably in the vastness of the bed. Percy is wrapped around her much in the same way as he has been for the past few days. His knees tucked against the backs of hers, his arms around her middle, his face pressed into the back of her neck. It’s all absurdly familiar, though this time in an enormous bed that they have no business occupying such a small part of.

And perhaps it’s the fact that she has become so used to this now, that makes it feel so intimate. That makes her feel like crying with how right this feels. So she lies there for as long as she can get away with, soaking up the feeling that she knows she only has a couple more days to enjoy before they fly back to New York. This past week will be neatly wrapped up in a box and put behind them as they carry on with their lives like none of it happened.

Embarrassingly, she realises she is actually crying as Percy begins to stir, breathing in deeply through his nose and squeezing his arms around her middle. She hurriedly wipes her eyes on the pillow and tries to act like she’s just waking up too, letting out a little groan as she arches her back in a stretch. Percy mimiks her, his sigh falling against the skin of her neck as he stretches too and she’s momentarily floored by how much she’s gotten used to the way he wakes up.

This is something she knows about him now. Whatever happens after all of this, that knowledge will stay with her, and she won’t be able to shake it off.  
Before she can wallow any more, Percy is tugging on her arm so she turns over and is grinning at her.

“It’s Christmas!!” he says joyfully. “Merry Christmas, Annabeth!”

She laughs, pretending it isn’t a watery one and accepts his hug, wishing him a much quieter, Merry Christmas, right into his ear. A moment later he pulls away and bounces out of bed like a little kid, dragging her hand when she doesn’t immediately follow and laughing at her complaints.

They traipse downstairs together in their pyjamas and find Eve already making coffee in the kitchen. Annabeth decides then that she’s not that bad, particularly when her presence gives her an excuse to press herself against Percy’s side as he pours them both a cup of coffee. Percy just smiles at her and pecks her on the lips before handing her cup over. She cradles it in her hands and takes her time sipping it while she sits on the countertop and chats quietly with Percy as he stands between her knees.

Eventually, the rest of her family make it downstairs and they gather around the tree to open stockings before getting dressed.

On her way back up the stairs, however, her dad grabs her, asking for a word in his office. He’s so awkward about it that she feels momentarily like she’s following her school principal into his office to be reprimanded. In fairness, she has plenty of real memories of such circumstances to draw from.

He doesn’t take her in there to tell her off though. After asking her to close the door, he crosses to his desk and pulls something out of the top drawer. He comes back around to her side and hands it to her before leaning back against the desk. It’s a watch.  
More specifically, it’s Percy’s father’s watch.

It had stopped working when Percy was twelve but he kept it - storing it in his old bedroom at his mom’s place for safekeeping. There was a tiny piece broken which he’d been unable to get fixed at any watch shop he’d visited over the years. He’d told annabeth once that it’s the only thing he has left that belonged to his dad and he wishes he could actually wear it.

When she knew she was coming to her parents for Christmas, Annabeth visited his mom to ask for it, knowing that her father would be at least able to have a go at fixing it. She hadn’t really expected him to be able to, having handed it to him the day they arrived with a hopeful smile and a, “No pressure.”

But he’s fixed it, and looking very modest about it. He shifts uncomfortably under Annabeth’s surprised stare and starts mumbling about how he fixed it, handing her the box she gave it to him in.  
He falls quiet and she just looks down at the watch, running her thumb over the edge and marvelling at the little ticking hands.

“He, uh,” her dad starts and she looks up at him. “Percy. He seems like a nice guy. I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you so happy, Annabeth.”

And, well, it’s pretty awkward because they are not affectionate with each other. She’s not sure her father is particularly affectionate with anyone, though he did kiss Eve on the cheek when he entered the kitchen this morning, so who knows. But she can tell his words are genuine, and the care he must have put into fixing the watch speaks volumes. So she steps forward and hugs him, smiling as he squeezes her shoulders.

“Thank you, dad. It really means a lot.”

He nods. “Of course.”

She smiles again before leaving, placing the watch into the box as she leaves and holding it close to her chest as she walks up the rest of the stairs to hers and Percy’s room.

For the second time this holiday, she walks in on Percy in a state of undress. This time though, it’s far less dramatic and he’s already got his jeans on.

Though she openly stares at his chest before he covers it with a t-shirt and impressive Christmas sweater, adorned with little bells and pom poms decorating a tree. The only thing it’s missing is lights.

She decides to give him the watch now because, well, it isn’t wrapped and it’s a whole story to explain to her family. And maybe she wants just the two of them to share this. So she returns his smile and sits down on the edge of the bed, keeping the box to her side as she does.

“I have a sort of gift for you,” she says.  
He laughs, taking a seat next to her. “A sort of gift?”

Annabeth hands him the box and stumbles through her explanation without looking at his face. Instead, she watches him carefully open the lid and take out the watch, running his thumb over the edge like she had. Afterwards he’s silent for too long so she looks up, terrified that he might be annoyed that she stole his father’s watch without consulting him, but the look on his face is one she hasn’t seen before. He’s struck between awe and something else she can’t place.

He blinks a few times before managing to speak. “Annabeth, this is...thank you so much.”

She shrugs, going for nonchalance, but feels her stomach settle with relief at his words. “I know how much it means to you-”

She’s cut off when he wraps his arms around her in the biggest, warmest hug of her whole life. Her heart sighs as she tucks her face into his neck, wrapping her arms around him and linking her fingers together at his spine. He’s warm and he smells really good and she’s still in her unicorn pyjamas but it’s okay. It’s okay because Percy has seen Annabeth in the first dawn of morning and the closing of nightfall. He’s seen her with vomit in her hair and a broken ankle from jumping off a skate ramp. He’s seen her and not cared and is still here and if she holds on tight enough she might just let herself believe he’s holding on that tight too - that he doesn’t want to let her go.

But eventually he does, still smiling at her like she hung the moon. Then he carefully puts the watch on his wrist and hugs her one more time before he leaves her to get dressed.

After he’s gone, Annabeth lies down on the bed for five minutes, staring blankly at the ceiling, before she can will herself to get up and have a shower.

* * *

By the time she gets back downstairs, everyone is already there, gathered in the lounge. Christmas music is playing from somewhere and the fire is already crackling warmth out from the hearth. They have a breakfast of smoked salmon on buttered bread with champagne and Percy leans over to whisper, “You’re tryna tell me you ain’t rich?” in her ear and she rolls her eyes and elbows him in the ribs but secretly agrees with him.

When it’s time to open the rest of the presents, they all gather around the tree. Annabeth’s parents take one couch as she and Percy take the other. Matty and Bobby sit next to the tree, on duty for handing out gifts.

Annabeth gets an assortment of kitchen stuff, clothes, stationary, and of course, socks. But then Bobby fishes out a small box shaped present and reads the label.

“Annabeth, Merry Christmas. Love, Percy.”

Next to her on the couch, Percy gets shifty and nervous, causing her intrigue to peak as she leans over to take the gift from Bobby. Her family watches intently - having already heard the brief explanation of the watch and risen expectations of his gift to her - as she rips off the paper to reveal a little velvet box. Throwing him a glance and finding a bitten lip and pink cheeks, Annabeth opens the box and feels her breath tumble out of her chest.

It’s a necklace: a thin silver chain with a smooth red pendant hanging from it.

“It’s red coral,” Percy explains quietly, like he just wants to tell her and not the rest of the room. “From that little shop in Montauk.”

The last time Percy went to Montauk was in October. Which means he bought this for her three months ago, long before they were planning to be in a fake relationship.

Annabeth is stunned into silence. Instead, she reaches for him, stroking her thumb gently over his cheek before leaving in to kiss him. It’s soft and warmth sparking through her veins. Percy’s hand cups her cheek, holding her there for another moment. Then they’re drawing away but leaving hands touching each other as she thanks him quietly.

Her family carries on around them, but Annabeth pays little mind as Percy puts her new necklace on, his fingers brushing the sensitive skin of her neck and making her shiver. Afterwards, she leans against him, smiling as his fingers play over her shoulder, and watches the rest of her family open gifts. Her present to Percy is a new lense for his camera and he gives her a kiss on the cheek when he opens it, thanking her with a blush on his cheeks.

His modest response makes her feel glad she’d given the watch to him in private, savouring the long hug he’d given her which he would not have done in front of her family.

* * *

 

The rest of the day passes by pretty quietly. After they’re done with gifts, Percy steals away to skype his mom and Annabeth helps out in the kitchen for a while. When Percy walks back in, he jokes about leaving her alone with the gravy and grabs her hips as he stands behind her.

“How’s your mom?” she asks him after she’s told him off.

He leans against the counter next to her and smiles. “Good. She sends her love.”

“Did she like her present?”

He nods. “Mhm.”

“You did pretty good this year, huh?”  
Percy ducks his head ever unable to take a compliment nonchalantly.

“Alright, you two,” Eve gets their attention. “Can you start taking food through to the the table? And the boys have disappeared so could you call them, please?”

“Typical.” Annabeth rolls her eyes and sets down the spoon she’d been using to stir the gravy with on the side.

She and Percy do a pretty good job of transporting all the food to the table and fitting everything in the limited space between plates and glasses. She yells up the stairs for her brothers and they come charging down a moment later, and then they’re all sat around the table. Her father says grace, including a thanks for the whole family being together and Annabeth actually feels a little emotional over it. Percy nudges her shoulder and she kicks him under the table, grinning with her head still bowed.

After dinner, they clear the table and go out for their traditional Christmas day walk, wrapping up in coats and scarves and everything in between. While they’re out, Percy and Annabeth hang back, keeping their hands linked and swinging between them.

“Thank you,” Annabeth says, when they’ve been walking for about half an hour. “You being here has really made this holiday better.”

He smiles at her. “Thank you for making sure I didn’t spend it alone.”

She bumps his shoulder. “You wouldn’t have been alone. Piper would have taken you in.”

“Then thank you for saving me from Piper and her dad arguing over the Turkey.”

Annabeth laughs. “We’ve managed to avoid fights here, but that was always a risk too.”

“Well, you’re worth the trouble, I suppose.”

Her heart beats double time. “Aw, shucks,” she says ducking her chin.

“And hey, this whole fake dating thing hasn’t been too bad.”

Not too bad.

It’s been amazing, great, wonderful, heaven. To her.

He’s made do with it.

Annabeth clears her throat. “Yeah. I might even miss it when it’s over,” she says, making it sound like a joke but meaning every word.

“Uh. yeah,” he says quietly. “When it’s over.”

Annabeth works to push her feelings back into her chest and changes the subject for the rest of the walk.

When they get back to the house, it’s more drinks and chocolate and board games and Annabeth feels cozy and full. She stretches out on the couch with her feet in Percy’s lap as they watch her step-mom struggle through her turn in charades. And she really meant what she said to Percy about making things easier with her family this year. But she thinks it might be that way because he distracted her. He distracted her from thinking about how left out she felt as a kid, distracted her from distancing herself from the rest of them. It turns out that when she doesn’t put all of her effort into being miserable around her family, she actually enjoys their company.

So later, much later, when they’ve eaten and drunk and watched another Christmas film after playing too many games, she climbs into bed feeling content and fuzzy. It’s an unspoken agreement when she and Percy find each other in the middle of the vast bed, tugging closer and letting their breaths mingle together between them on the pillow.

“Merry Christmas,” she whispers into the empty quiet of the room. It falls gently between them.

Percy leans closer still. “Merry Christmas, Annabeth” he says, voice heavy with sleep.

 


	9. Tuesday 26th December 2017

**Tuesday 26th december 2017**

When Annabeth wakes up on Tuesday morning, something feels off. Like the cozy bubble that she’s been floating in all week has been popped, leaving her exposed and raw. For one, Percy isn’t in bed next to her when she wakes up and she can’t hear the shower running, which means he has gone downstairs without waking her.

She rolls over in the big bed, just listening as the sounds of the house slowly reach her; a bustle of voices and closing cupboards from the kitchen, faint music from the radio in her father’s office, cartoons on the TV in the living room. All the while, she wonders what made Percy leave her this morning. They’re flying back to New York tomorrow which means...which means he’s probably preparing for things to go back to normal between them.

Whatever normal is.

She can’t really imagine leaning next to him on a couch at a party any more, not without thinking of holding his whole body against hers while they sleep and feeling his lips against hers.

Eventually, she drags herself out of bed and into the shower, taking her time to refocus. Calming her thoughts down and trying to focus on the present. It’s a well-exercised practice she uses to quell her anxieties about future worries. She can’t actually control what will happen in a day or a week or a month, so worrying about it doesn’t help. She focuses on now, getting through today, the next hour even.

When she makes her way downstairs, Percy is in the living room with her brothers, a bowl of cereal in his lap as he sits on the couch. He looks up when she goes over to him and offers a chubby cheeked smile before returning his attention to the television and well. That’s definitely different. Every other morning, he has pulled her in and kissed her cheek or mouth or temple. He’s diverted his attention away from whatever he’d been doing, even temporarily, or made an effort to involve her.

But this is fine. They don’t have to do everything together. They never used to, so they should get back to not doing that now. Better to ease out of it than rip the bandaid off tomorrow.

Still, as she goes into the kitchen to get her own breakfast, finding herself sitting alone at the breakfast diner, she wishes they could have carried it on for a little longer. She wishes- well, that she’d been braver before.

Truthfully, Annabeth had thought of telling him. All of their open affection and closeness over the past few days had started to ease her doubts that these feelings of hers were unreciprocated. She’d forgotten about the worries of rejection and losing his friendship if they made a go of it. She’d forgotten about what he’d once said to her about not dating friends because then you just lose doubly when it doesn’t work out. She’d forgotten, because he had held her back, he’d kissed her and watched her from across the room and danced with her in that bar and spooned his body around hers while they slept. And he’d done it all so convincingly that she couldn’t help but lean into hope.

But hope it turns out, is dangerous.

And Percy has either been able to pretend very convincingly all along, or he had leaned in too and realised it’s not actually what he wants. He doesn’t want to take this out of their San Francisco bubble and make this real.

Which is fine.

She can give him space and let things settle back to their normal place between them. It’ll probably hurt, but she can.

Except.

Except now she’s remembering why she wanted Percy to tag along in the first place. She’s not awfully fond of her childhood home. As she asks her step-mother where he dad is and gets a somewhat snappy response about him being busy, she remembers why they’ve never really seen eye to eye.

And sitting at the breakfast bar in the astoundingly quiet kitchen, her mind flashes back to sitting on this very stool after she’d been picked up by the Police for the second time after running away. She’d frowned at the cup of tea placed in front of her as her father had mumbled through an apology to the officers and her step-mother had told her she’d need a bath to get the mud off of her, questioning why on Earth she would run away from such a nice, warm home when other children had nothing. Annabeth remembers feeling guilty enough to stay and keep herself quiet for a few more months until she couldn’t stand it all over again.

As the day goes on and she’s left mostly to her own devices after her brothers commandeered Percy - or the other way round, she can’t be sure - Annabeth does her best to avoid her parents around the house. Except now, every room reminds her of things she’s tried to forget about her childhood, the reasons she felt so separate from this family for so many years.

The last week had been filled with moments of happiness and comfort and belonging. Now she just feels sad.

* * *

 

By the time six o’clock comes around, she’s feeling pretty sorry for herself and when her step-mom reminds her that they’re going to her uncle’s dinner party tonight, she can’t stop the sigh leaving her mouth before it’s out.

“If you’re going to complain about it, then don’t come,” Eve says. “But you haven’t seen your uncle for years.”

Nice to know, she’s still up to the same old tricks.

But then she sits down next to Annabeth on the couch, causing her to look up from her book.

Eve frowns. “Sorry, that wasn’t fair.”

Annabeth can’t really hide her surprise and Eve sighs this time.

“I suppose that’s why you ran away so much when you were younger.”

“Um. I mean...it was a lot of reasons.”

Eve nods. She lifts her hand from her lap like she might touch Annabeth’s shoulder or something, but then she puts it back down again and offers a small smile.

“It’s been lovely having you here this year, Annabeth.”

And despite how awful she’s feeling today, Annabeth nods and agrees. “It’s been nice,” she says. “I should come back next year.”

“Yes, you should. Maybe visit sooner than that, if you want to.”

Well, she’s not sure about that, but Annabeth doesn’t hate the idea. As Eve leaves to get ready, Annabeth finds herself getting up to do the same. It wasn’t an apology for her behaviour towards Annabeth when she was little, but it’s something - an acknowledgment. A reassurance that Annabeth didn’t make it all up or exaggerate it in her head.

It makes her feel a little better, but not enough in the grand scheme of things. So when she walks into their room and Percy greets her in a similar way as he had this morning, she feels miserable all over again. And despite the fact that he’s being perfectly nice to her, she feels a world away from him.

There’s a moment when she walks out in her dress, though, looking up from fastening her watch, and she catches his stare, vulnerable and open and admiring. Much like he’d looked at her the night of the party a week ago. But then he blinks and gives her a tight smile.

“We should get going,” he says.

“We should.”

And that’s about the extent of their conversation for most of the evening. They make the ride to her uncle’s house in silence, listening to her brothers talk over the radio. When they get to the house, Percy is quietly observant, frowning at almost everything he sees. Annabeth can’t help but agree: her uncle has always been pretty ostentatious about his wealth, and tonight is no different, apparently.  His home in itself is extravagant, with years of antiques decorating it’s halls and walls - marble statues and portraits of bearded old men and intricately woven rugs and enormous chandeliers. Annabeth’s parents house looks modest in comparison.

When they sit at the table for starters, Percy eyes the two extra sets of cutlery warily.

Annabeth nudges him. “I think that one’s for the fish course,” she says, pointing at the little fork.

Percy snorts. “Of course it is.”

And alright, that was harsher than before. She pulls her hand back into her lap and sends him a look. A _what’s up with you_ look. Because she can deal with him being distant, but she won’t put up with him being an ass.

But Percy just shrugs. “I’m not used to this,” he mutters.

“Well neither am I,” she says, sounding defensive because she feels it.

“Sure you’re not.”

“What’s your problem?” she asks, turning to him full on.

“Fish or soup?” Comes a voice between them. Annabeth looks up to find a waiter looking at them both expectantly.

She blinks a few times and deflates. “Soup,” she says.

“Me too,” Percy says.

Silence resumes between them. Annabeth has fought with Percy exactly four times, each time worse than the one before. It’s been over misunderstandings, hurting each other’s feelings without meaning to and both being too stubborn and hurt to apologise or back down.

In retrospect, she can always see a better way to have dealt with the situation, but right now, she’s just pissed off.

He’s rejected her, ignored her, and now he’s just being rude. Her pride can only take so much.

So she sits quietly stewing next to him while they eat their soup and makes polite conversation with the couple sitting opposite who she thinks might be her great aunt and uncle. They ask about Annabeth’s course and where Percy is from.

“What does your father do?” Annabeth’s great aunt asks, after Percy has explained his mother’s job.

“My step dad’s a teacher.”

“And your father?”

And well, this is a touchy subject anyway, without the insensitive line of questioning. Annabeth sees Percy’s expression tighten from the corner of her eye and decides to step in.

“He was a fishing boat captain. He died when Percy was seven.”

Her great uncle sniffs. “And left you and your mother with nothing. Hm.”

Annabeth is actually drawn speechless at the insolence of the comment so she doesn’t register Percy’s reaction for a moment. But a moment later he’s pushing up from the table, leaving her great aunt and uncle frowning behind him.

“Well,” she says, sniffing deeply.

Annabeth clears her throat. “Perhaps be a little more sensitive with your questions.”

Then she stands, pushing her hair sharply away from the table so that it makes a noise against the floor, and follows Percy out of the room.

She finds him outside, with his back to the door and his face to the sky, hands stuffed in his pockets. She closes the door quietly behind her and takes a step forward, not quite standing next to him.

“Sorry about that,” she says, watching her breath blow out in a cloud.

She sees the muscles in his jaw jump and feels her own hackles rise instinctively in defence. Their argument isn’t over, apparently.

“Whatever,” he says. “I just wish you would have warned me.”

“Warned you about what? I didn’t know my relatives were going to be assholes to you.”

He sighs harshly. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what.” She tugs on his arm until he reluctantly faces her, his expression tight. “What are you so pissed at me about? I didn’t mock you for not knowing what the extra fucking fork is for and I don’t live in this damn house!”

“Well you may as well! Fuck, Annabeth. I grew up in a two room apartment on the East side, this is…” he scrubs a hand through his hair aggressively, leaving it standing on end. “You could have warned me, I don’t know!”

“Jesus Christ, Percy. Quit taking it so personally. Nobody in there cares that you didn’t come from money and if they do then they don’t fucking matter! You’re the only one hung up on this.”

“Oh don’t.”

“Don’t what?” She grits her teeth, feeling her face go red with how angry she feels. She steps into his space. “Don’t what?” she repeats.

He’s shaking his head at her. “Give me the whole money isn’t important spiel. It’s not important to you because you have it.”

“My _parents_ have it. I have a college loan same as you.”

“You don’t have to though! They’ll pay it off in a fucking heartbeat if you ask them to. You’ve never had to worry about whether you’ll actually eat that night or whether your mom will make rent.”

“Where the hell do you think I stayed when I ran away from home for weeks at a time, Percy? It wasn't a five star hotel!”

“Fine, but you had this to come back to, didn’t you?”

“I was dragged back.”

He scoffs again, turning away from her and Annabeth follows him where he walks down the steps, but she stops halfway.

“Is that what you think of me, then?” she asks the back of his head. “I’m a spoilt brat who didn’t appreciate what she had.”

He turns, jaw clenched. “You know it’s not.”

“Do I? Because what I feel like you’re telling me right now is that I had a roof over my head so no good reason to run away.”

He shakes his head, looking away from her. “That’s not- Annabeth, you had all of this growing up-”

“Fuck you,” she says and it’s venomous. “You know how they made me feel. Money doesn’t equal love, Percy. And you of all people-”

His face crumbles into something less angry and it’s not until he’s closed the gap between them and grabbed her arms that she realises it’s frustration - at her or himself or everything, she isn’t sure.

“That’s not what I meant. Your feelings-” He sighs sharply. “I’m not trying to invalidate them, I’m sorry.”

She softens a little under his grip and his gaze, realising his words are in earnest. But the peace is brittle. Percy must see and feel that too because he steps back, releasing her and shaking his head, though it’s more sad than angry now.

“I just. I don’t think you understand how separate I feel from all of this. I meant to say that you’re used to it - yeah, you ran away from it and then you moved away. But you fit right in and I- I don’t. I never could, no matter how hard I tried.”

Annabeth sighs again. “Percy. None of that matters though.”

When he looks at her again, he’s frowning. He looks for a moment like he might throw another argument at her, but then he sighs and swallows it up again. She sighs too and it billows out between them like his did, and then she shivers as the cold finally reaches her bones. She brings her hands up to rub her arms and watches Percy follow the movement with his eyes.

He walks slowly up the steps and stops right in front of her, leaving him on a step below and just slightly shorter than her. They don’t usually resolve their fights this quickly, though she’s not actually sure they’ve resolved this one. There’s usually more sniping than shouting involved too. They really just know how to get under each other’s skins, she supposes.

She sort of wants to shout at him a little bit more, she also wants to sit down on this step and cry a bit, and then she wants to wrap her arms around him and apologise.

Instead she just looks at him, as he looks at her. And in a way, all of those things pass between them anyway. In the way that so many things have always been unspoken between them.

In the end, she sighs and he does too, and they billow into the same little cloud before dissipating above their heads.

“Let’s go inside,” Percy says, and they do.

* * *

 

The rest of the dinner is predictably horrible and she can’t really look at him. Though they hadn’t ended things shouting outside, the tension between them is palpable and she hates it. She hates arguing with Percy because it’s horrible to fight with her best friend but also because it always takes a little while for them to ease through the awkwardness back to themselves. And she doesn’t ever notice the moment things do go back to normal, it just happens when she’s not looking. They’re just Percy and Annabeth again.

She wants to be Percy and Annabeth again. Not even yearning for the version of themselves they’ve been over the past week, she just wants to be them as they were before. She just wants her best friend back.

If Bobby and Matthew notice anything, they don’t mention it to Annabeth on the way home. It’s late by the time they get back, past midnight, and Annabeth is exhausted. They make their quiet way into the house, murmuring goodnights as they find their own bedrooms with the lights staying turned off.

Annabeth gets ready for bed in the bathroom and stares at her reflection in the mirror for a while after she’s removed her makeup. She wonders if she can go to sleep and wake up like today didn’t happen.

She knows she can’t.

So she goes out into the bedroom where Percy is already in bed and crosses quickly to her side, climbing in and switching off her lamp. Percy’s is already off so they’re thrown into darkness and silence that rumbles on loudly as it has no business doing.

Annabeth is tired though, so she hugs her pillow and falls asleep not long after, wondering in passing how things changed quite so drastically in just twenty four hours.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so late lads!! i really got behind schedule and was distracted by board games, so my bad
> 
> a lot of you will not like me for this chapter lmao so my bad again


	10. Wednesday 27th December 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hang in there lads, we're getting there :)

 

**Wednesday 27th December 2017**

When Annabeth wakes up the next morning, she briefly forgets the events of the day before. Her knees are pressing against Percy’s and though the rest of their bodies aren’t touching, she can feel his warmth radiating across the space under the duvet between them. She opens her eyes to find Percy opening his at the same time, with his arm tucked under the pillow and his hair mussed above his head.

For a brief moment, she forgets. Because he’s all soft on the pillow across from her and instinct tells her to pull closer.

But it’s only a moment, and then things cloud between them as they had been the night before. Percy swallows and rubs the sleep out of his eyes and Annabeth tucks her pillow under her head a little more, not taking her eyes off him. The air feels sticky and tight and silent. There are no morning sounds from the kitchen or passing cars outside the window today. Just quiet, quiet, quiet. Pressing down until it feels suffocating.

“I’m sorry,” Percy ends up saying first. 

Though she feels like it should be her. She doesn’t know, really. She doesn’t feel as self-righteous as she usually does after an argument with him, but she still feels hurt. Like his words have more power now than they did before.

“I’m sorry too,” she whispers.

Percy’s smile is a little sad, but at least it’s there.

“Truce?” he asks, and that might break her heart even more.

She nods against the pillow and frees the hand she has underneath it, offering it to him. He takes it in his own, hooking his thumb over hers and grasping her fingers and it lingers. It’s not really a handshake, it’s just a moment, suspended and fragile in the middle of them.

“What time is it?” he asks a moment later.

Annabeth lets go of his hand to reach over to her bedside table for her phone. “Nine twenty,” she says. “We should get up. We’ve got to leave for the airport at ten thirty.”

“Yeah.”

They pause again, sharing a look she doesn’t fully understand, before climbing out of bed. And although there’s no longer any real animosity between them, things feel stilted between them and she really has no idea where she stands among it all.

Despite this, they’re able to move around each other with familiar ease while they get ready and pack their suitcases. It’s strange, Annabeth thinks, how synchronised they’ve become over the past week and a half, even when they’re still at odds with each other. 

They drag their suitcases downstairs where her dad and step-mom are already eating breakfast in the kitchen. 

“I’ll get the boys up so they can say goodbye,” Eve says. “There’s coffee in the pot.”

After she’s left the room, Percy pours them both a mug and hands hers over with a little smile. She smiles back, wondering briefly how painful the flight back is going to be if they can’t even make eye contact in the kitchen for more than two seconds with her dad as a buffer. She’s really, really ready for the awkward stage to be over now. The thing is, she’s always been able to get some space, before, to vent her frustrations at Piper ad get some perspective and just breathe. That’s a little harder to do with him right here.

“So, what time is your flight?”

“Twelve,” they both say, and exchange a look before quickly glancing away again.

Her brothers stumble, pyjama glad and bleary eyed, into the room then, easing some of the tension out with their light energy. They each pour themselves coffee and start a sleepy conversation that Annabeth and Percy are both able to dip into comfortably. 

The next thirty minutes pass pretty easily and before Annabeth knows it, they’re loading their bags into the trunk of Eve’s car and she’s hugging her brother’s goodbye.

“Don’t leave it so long next time, huh?” Bobby says, grinning as he holds her shoulders.

“Maybe you should come visit me, huh?” she says, grinning back.

The others are rallied around the car, leaving them a little distance away. Bobby’s face drops a little, turning a little more serious as he glances over her shoulder and then back at her face.

“Is everything okay?”

And well, she shouldn’t be surprised that he’s noticed. He noticed when there wasn’t actually anything wrong, so of course he has now that there is. Annabeth cringes and gives him a tight smile.

“It will be,” she says. Because she’s certain of that, it’s the timescale of it all that’s pretty vague. Although she still doesn’t really know what  _ normal  _ they’ll be returning to.

Bobby’s mouth lifts in a half smile. “Alright. Text us when you land.”

She nods and pulls him in for another hug, letting this one last. Letting herself be comforted by it. Bobby squeezes her a little tighter, like he knows she needs it. He really is a great brother. It’s a shame his parents aren’t as caring. Eventually, she pulls away and he smiles at her, cupping a palm to her cheek.

“Later, Chase.”

She laughs and knocks her fist to his chin gently. “Take care of yourself, kid.”

* * *

 

This time round, the airport is infinitely more uncomfortable. Annabeth remembers how she’d leaned over his shoulder and they’d exchanged made up stories about the people around them and teased each other about watching films on the plane.

Now, they’re sitting very firmly in their own seats, barely exchanging a word but for checking they’re at the correct gate. Annabeth spends the time looking at her phone, but becomes bored of every app after only a minute or so of browsing. She checks the time again: twenty minutes before they board. Maybe she could use the bathroom again.

“Excuse me,” a polite voice asks across from her. “Do you have the time?”

Annabeth looks up to find an elderly lady sitting in the row across from them, smiling politely. Though she just checked herself, she looks down at her phone again.

“It’s eleven twenty five,” she says. “We’ll start boarding in twenty minutes.”

The lady smiles kindly. “Thank you. Were you two visiting for the holiday?”

Annabeth glances over at Percy, who glances right back at her, and nods. “Yeah. My family live here, we go to college in New York.”

She nods and looks at Percy. “You’re from here too?”

“Oh no. New Yorker, born and raised. Just visiting.”

The lady looks delighted. “Oh, is it your first Christmas together?”

Annabeth looks at Percy, slightly startled because how does she answer that? Truthfully, it’s the second one they’ve spent together. For her family’s sake, it’s their first as a couple. For a stranger in the airport, it’s...who knows?

“Second,” Percy answers, before she can. He breaks their gaze and she swallows thickly, feeling oddly overwhelmed. “But our first with Annabeth’s family.”

“How lovely.”

Annabeth gives her a small smile.

She’s lost. Percy has no need to keep up the facade here, with this stranger. He could easily have told her they were friends and not mentioned that this is their second christmas together, or any of that. It comforts her a little, in a strange way, to know that he’s happy to keep it up for at least a little longer.

“Do you have plans for New Years together?” the lady asks.

And yes, actually, they do.

Fuck. Annabeth had forgotten all about it.

“Yeah,” she manages to say with a dry mouth. “We’re going to a party in the city.”

Afterwards, she’s supposed to be staying at Percy’s mom’s apartment with him. How had she forgotten about that?

Anything after today had been blanked from her mind, really. She’s just been focused on getting out of San Francisco and getting some space between her and Percy so that things could get back to normal. She’s not so sure they will be by New Years Eve. On top of that, they’ll be at a party surrounded by all their friends who will be more than eager to hear how their trip went. While Annabeth has kept Piper somewhat updated with the events of the holiday, she’s not ready to discuss it with everyone. She’s not ready for their teasing and their questions about details.

She’s just not ready.

As they board the plane, and Percy is held up finding a place to store his carry on bag, Annabeth sends a quick text:

* * *

 

**Piper McLean**

About to take off. Will you be at the airport? I desperately need a girls night in.

I will

Jeez. did it get too much?

(as i predicted it would)

I’m in serious trouble, pipes

Oh little buddy

Don’t worry. Im sure it’s nothing a richard curtis movie cant fix

Thanks <3

See you soon <3

 


	11. Friday 29th December 2017

 

**Friday 29th December 2017**

After they landed in JFK on Wednesday, Piper was, as promised, there alongside Percy’s mom to pick them up. Annabeth had clung on to her for too long before she’d hugged Sally in greeting too, returning to Piper’s side not long after. She’s sure she’s been annoying, but she hasn’t been able to help it and, actually, Piper doesn’t seem to mind. She just keeps her arm tucked around Annabeth and makes sure she stays in between she and Percy at all times.

Annabeth hasn’t even told her everything, Piper just seems to be able to know that they need a little space. Sally, too, seems a little cautious about what she says to them.

They’d gone back to Sally’s for dinner and stayed the night. Percy offered up his old bed for them and took the couch. Annabeth had spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, trying not to think too hard about the fact that she’s lying in a bed which Percy slept in for years before she knew him. She’d shifted onto her side, dragging the duvet up to her chin and sighing. Frowning at the sliver of light coming from underneath the door until Piper had huffed loudly and shuffled over until she’d been spooning Annabeth’s back.

“You’ve become more needy,” she’d told Annabeth when she’d tugged Piper’s arms tighter around her waist.

“Fuck off.” But she’d said it softly and snuggled closer.

They’d taken the train back to campus the next day, leaving Percy at his mom’s. She’d managed to hug him goodbye and sighed when he’d pressed his face into her neck and squeezed her closer for a moment. But then they’d let go again and parted ways for the first time in thirteen days and it had made Annabeth feel hollowed out.

She’d felt that way all the way home and spent the day unpacking and doing laundry and grocery shopping and trying not to stop for even a second because when she did it just hurt, all the way through, like she was being torn in two.

She shouldn’t be hurting this much. It shouldn’t be consuming her every thought. She hates that it does; she hates having such little power over her own emotions. She’s not used to being out of control like this. She’s been in love, she thinks, perhaps once before. But it didn’t last, and when it didn’t, it certainly didn’t hurt this much. So maybe it hadn’t been love at all.

Or maybe this just hurts so much because she feels like she’s lost her best friend, no matter how much her sensible mind tells her she hasn’t. She hasn’t.

But their text thread is so bare, filled with short answers to boring questions and comments and she hates it. She aches for normalcy, for what they had. She scrolls back up to old conversations and smiles and clutches her phone tightly and jumps when the beeper goes off on the dryer.

She’s a mess, she knows she is. But she’s going to let herself wallow for a bit longer.

Which is what makes her crawl into Piper’s bed at eight thirty and tells her that she wants a duvet day. Piper tells her to fuck off because Piper is not a morning person, but she lets Annabeth take up half the duvet and snuggle up to her for an hour before she can drag herself out of bed. She then makes Annabeth follow her to the kitchen where she makes them breakfast while Annabeth takes her duvet to the couch and pulls the coffee table closer so they can prop their feet on it.

And so the day of feeling sorry for herself begins.

Piper starts them on Drive Me Crazy and Annabeth side eyes her through the whole thing as she eats her waffles. And by the time they reach the final scene, Annabeth is hopelessly invested in Nicole and Chase’s relationship, desperate for them to admit their feelings for each other over this fake dating nonsense. Because they love each other, obviously. Because it’s a movie so you know they’re going to end up together, there’s no fear or doubt involved. The whole point of the plot is that the audience knows they’re going to go through this whole facade before they realise they should be together, it’s winking at you the whole time while it puts its characters through turmoil.

So they’re at the dance and Nicole’s date slash friend has left her unsupervised because even he can see who she’s really meant to be with, and it’s just the two of them again. And it’s as simple as this: Chase asking her to dance, Nicole looking at him in disbelief before she takes his hand. It’s her asking him, “So who are we makin’ jealous?” and him pulling her in and telling her, “Everyone, Nicole. Everyone.”

Annabeth is crying.

“Aw shit,” Piper says as the credits roll. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Annabeth groans into her hands and pulls them away, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “This is stupid.”

“What. That you’re in love with your best friend?”

“Fuck off.”

Piper looks at her with her eyebrows raised. “Annabeth, I know what heartbreak looks like.”

“Then why are you rubbing salt in the wound?”

“I’m trying to get you to open your damn stubborn eyes.”

Annabeth sighs, frustrated. “And see what?”

“That he’s in love with you too!”

Annabeth sighs, because this is a conversation she’s had with herself for days now. She looks at Piper with her expression saying _Duh_ , like this whole thing is a movie script just waiting for the final scene to unfold. But there’s no certainty here, it’s not as easy to fall head first into her feelings as Nicole and Chase make it seem.

“But what if he’s not?” she says hopelessly. “Or what if he is and he freaked out and doesn’t want it? There’s a reason he pulled away, Piper.”

“Yeah, because he’s _Percy_. When has he ever made the first move?”

Logically, she knows Piper has a point. But it’s still too much to process.

“Can we.” She drops her head against the couch cushions. “Can we just watch another film?”

So Piper puts on Legally Blonde and Annabeth forgets about Percy for a little while.

But Elle Woods doesn’t really distract her enough, neither does Holly Golightly nor Erin Brockovich nor Lizzie Bradbury. She starts crying half way through Four Weddings and a Funeral because the funeral speech always makes her cry and starts complaining before the credits because Andy McDowell always annoys her and the ending is frustrating. But then Piper puts Notting Hill on and Annabeth shuts up and watches.

It gets to near the end of the movie, with Anna Scott standing in a little bookstore telling William that she’s just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her, and Annabeth sighs.

“What?” Piper asks her, sounding halfway between wary and exasperated.

“How can she do that?” Annabeth says. “Just put herself out there.”

Piper’s voice is earnest and kind when she speaks. “Because it’s worth it.”

Annabeth looks at her, rolling her head on the couch cushion. She doesn’t say anything, she just waits. And Piper goes on.

“It’s scary as fuck but that’s part of what love is about. That’s part of what makes it so special, because you’ve gotta be brave sometimes.”

Annabeth frowns and opens her mouth just to close it again.

Piper tilts her head. “Because,” she ventures. “Even if it doesn’t work out, if you have the chance to experience that sort of love for even a little while, it’s worth it. Because if you never take the leap, then you’ll never know, but you’ll always wonder.”

And well, Annabeth has always thought herself to be quite brave. She left home at the age of seven and then did again several times after. She picked a college on the other side of the country and left everything she knew behind to start again.

But then again, perhaps that wasn’t bravery after all. Because really, if she admits it to herself, she was running scared. She’s been running her whole life, from a family who made her feel unwanted, from the place where her mother left and never looked back, from friends who never seemed to stay either, from guys who were never really enough.

But now, well, now she thinks she’s found a place she doesn’t want to run from.

And more than that, she’s found people she doesn’t want to run from. Because they are people who care and show her that they care; people who she believes won’t leave her.

And at the centre of that is Percy, always Percy. Who has never made her worry that he might leave her behind, and who she’s never wanted to run from.

So why is she so afraid now?

Whatever happens, the bond they have is too strong to be damaged. Whatever happens, whether she jumps or not, she knows he’ll be on the other side, ready to catch her.

So maybe, if she thinks about it, she’s ready for her Anna Scott moment, after all. Because Piper is right, that kind of love is worth the risk. And if what she felt in San Francisco is anything like what she could have, she thinks she might risk everything for it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another late update sorry lads!!
> 
> the support we're getting for this is way more than anticipated lmfao and sophii and i are so so grateful, y'all are gems - every kudos and comment and message is massively appreciated, so thank you. if you pay attention you'll notice i upped the chapter total to 13 so you've got two more coming your way :)
> 
> sorry for dragging out the angst it's just so much fun :))
> 
> re: the movies they watched:  
> \- Drive Me Crazy sort of inspired this a little and there's a reference a few chapters back that you might pick up on if you've seen it. definitely recommend, it's a treat.  
> \- Legally Blonde is a timeless classic and i really don't need to say any more  
> \- Holly Golightly is in Breakfast at Tiffany's, one of my absolute favourite films  
> \- Erin Brokovich is self titled and based on a true story and is brilliant. please watch  
> \- Lizzie Bradbury is in Wimbledon, which Sophii quite rightly insisted we had to make a nod to because of our most recent fic, [Game, Set, Match](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7523317/chapters/17100580) which is based on that film :)  
> \- Four Weddings & a Funeral / Notting Hill I realise are both quite British centric films but I love them


	12. Sunday 31st December 2017

 

**Sunday 31st December 2017**

When Annabeth arrives at the party with Piper and Hazel, her eyes immediately scan the crowd and she gets a nudge and a knowing smirk from Piper for it.

They’ve talked about what she’s going to do, Hazel too, who returned to the apartment this afternoon and was frantically caught up to speed. Piper wants her to find Percy immediately and make her Anna Scott speech. But Piper had wanted her to call Percy before the end credits of Notting Hill had finished rolling to make her declaration, which Annabeth had steadfastly refused to do. She needs to see him to have this conversation; needs to gauge his reaction and, if he reciprocates, be able to touch him afterwards.

It’s not something she can do over the phone, though she’d texted him earlier to make sure he’s still coming tonight.

 

**Percy Jackson**

You’ll be at the party?

Yeah :) you?

We’re getting the train into central station for 8

Want me to meet you there?

It’s okay, we’ll survive. Manhattan isn’t that terrifying

Arlight, smartass

I’ll see you later then <3

<3

 

That little heart has been keeping her going all afternoon, really. She’d unlocked her phone too many times to count just to look at it again, getting a sappy smile on her face all over again. Because even if nothing more happens between them after tonight, even if she doesn’t get her  _ girl standing in front of a boy  _ moment, she can feel the shift, back to Percy and Annabeth again. Back to easy banter and affection like it costs them nothing.

“Come on,” Hazel says. “Frank says they’re in the kitchen.”

“Of course they are,” Piper says, tugging Annabeth along after her.

The apartment they’re in is enormous, owned by the parents of someone on Piper’s course and Piper being Piper, had managed to secure an invite for all of them. Annabeth recognises a number of people from campus among the rest of the crowd who are strangers to her. But it feels like a nice amount of people, not too overwhelming but enough bodies to comfortably fill the large space. However, this means it takes a lot of maneuvering through the crowd to reach the kitchen and that she doesn’t actually see them until she’s right in front of them.

Hazel is already hugging Jason and Piper slides between Leo and Frank to sit on the counter next to where Charles is standing, talking to Grover and Percy. Percy, who is facing mostly away from her and who looks around when Grover shouts her name excitedly, launching himself into a hug with her.

“Hey Grover,” she laughs, patting his back.

He lets her go and then Charles is there, wrapping his big arms around her and swaying her from side to side.

“Oh my god, I haven’t been gone that long,” she laughs when he releases her too.

Percy nudges her, smiling. “They gave me the same treatment, don’t worry.”

“We thought you two weren’t gonna come back!” Grover protests. “You looked so happy in all those pictures and the way Percy was texting…” he sort of breaks off after glancing at Percy and Annabeth looks over too but by the time she does, Percy’s expression is neutral.

She wonders what he’d been saying to Grover while they were in San Francisco.

“It looked like you had a nice Christmas though,” Charles says. 

“Yeah, I thought you hated your family,” Leo says.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “Not as much as I used to. And Percy being there helped.”

She accepts a beer from Piper and doesn’t look at Percy as she says it, but she’s still standing next to him, resisting that little urge to lean against his side.

Hazel grins. “Well, he can be awfully charming.”

“Can’t he just?” Piper says, smirking at Annabeth before taking a swig from her bottle.

Annabeth bites down her curse and looks at her feet and fights the blush she knows is blooming at the apples of her cheeks.

“What’s up with you two?” Jason asks, and Annabeth glances over to find Percy ducking his chin just as she had been.

“Yeah, why are you being weird?” Leo asks. “Did the fake dating thing get weird?”

Annabeth’s chin snaps up. She stares wide-eyed at him, before throwing her gaze towards Piper, who is smacking Leo’s shoulder, who winces.

“Right. The  _ secret  _ fake dating thing that I know nothing about.”

“Fucking hell,” Percy says.

“Does everyone know?” Annabeth asks, looking around at them all.

They all shrug, all displaying variations of guilt. Charles just looks smug, Grover ashamed - having presumably been Percy’s confidant who spilled the beans. Piper sighs and then shrugs at Annabeth when she meets her eye again.

“Whatever, they would have found out anyway.”

Annabeth is ready to throw something at her.

“So...now that we all know,” Jason says and Annabeth rolls her eyes at him. “How did it go?”

Annabeth shifts under all the attention and feels Percy doing the same next to her. What the hell does she say? Sure, she wants to talk to Percy at some point tonight about how she really feels, but she doesn’t want to spill her guts in front of all of their friends.

But then. “It was surprisingly easy,” Percy says.

“Of course it was,” Piper scoffs. “You two are so fucking coupley. I mean look at you both now.”

Annabeth looks at Percy as everyone looks at them both. They hadn’t been doing anything, had they? She realises, though, that he had shifted behind her slightly and she had moved into that space, leaving them standing inordinately close together. Closer than friends might, not as close as they would have a week ago. 

Right, there’s that balance thing they’ve got to find again.

“Yeah, I’m not really surprised your brothers thought you were together. You have more pictures of each other on instagram than I do of my girlfriend.”

“Leo, you don’t have a girlfriend,” Frank says.

“Yes I do, man. What the fuck.”

“So did you have to kiss?” Piper diverts and Annabeth isn’t grateful because Piper knows the answer to that. 

She also knows that her blush is answer enough but she clears her throat and answers anyway. “Yes,” she says. “There was mistletoe.”

“So, just the one time then?” Charles asks.

“Um.”

“Oh my god,” at least three people exclaim. 

“How many times,” Frank asks, looking excited and embarrassed all at once.

Percy groans. “What is this, eighth grade?”

“Just answer the question, bro,” Jason says, and he’s grinning, the bastard.

“I don’t know,” Percy says. “Kinda lost count.”

And. “Holy shit,” Leo says.

“Are you two together now?” Frank asks.

“No,” they both say, too loud and immediate and she’s blushing all over again. Unsure whether she feels grateful or downhearted that Percy answered so quickly alongside her.

“Okay,” Frank says.

“So did you have to share a bed?” Hazel asks. “How weird was that?”

Percy shrugs, she feels it against her shoulder. “Not weird, really. We’ve slept together before.”

Frank spits out his drink.

“I mean. Fuck. I don’t mean  _ slept together _ , just-”

“We’ve shared a sleeping space before,” Annabeth says, saving him, though her face is on fire.

Piper is grinning at them, so is Charles. The fuckers, she hates them both. Jason looks like he’s trying to hide a smile too and the others mostly look lost for words. Well, join the club.

“Alright. Well, how much did you argue?” Grover asks. “Because I know that happened.”

They are well known for their bickering, though that has died down since their freshman year. Annabeth hadn’t really thought about it until now but, apart from their big blow out, they hadn’t bickered at all. Which is...strange. Particularly considering the confined space and lack of buffers in the form of their friends and the circumstances they had been subject to.

But Annabeth had only found his presence a comfort when she’d felt irritated or tired, moods which might spark a snarky, biting conversation between the two of them. 

Hm.

“Just the once,” Percy answers because Annabeth has been quiet for too long. “It was a bit dramatic.”

And, well, understatement.

“What was it about?” Grover asks, which Annabeth thinks is strange because she thought Percy would have confided in Grover about their fight.

“Our usual shit,” Annabeth answers, because everyone already knows what that means. They’ve either played witnesses to it or heard about it afterwards from either one of them. They all nod.

But Percy isn’t done. “Mm. We were at Annabeth’s uncle’s house and I felt so fucking poor.”

“Ah yes, the Chase fortune,” Charles says, forcing a posh accent.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “Fuck off.”

“I always forget your family is rich,” Piper muses.

“Says the daughter of Tristan McLean.”

“Shh. I’m tryna keep a low profile.”

“Piper, everyone knows who you’re related to. Why do you think we’re invited to stuff like this?” Leo says.

“Because I’m charming,” Piper protests.

“Anyway,” Jason says, grinning at her. “I had no idea you were that rich,” he directs at Annabeth.

“My dad’s side,” she says. Ready to move away from the topic.

“Your uncle’s house is insane,” says Piper, the only other person in the group to have seen it.

“Makes you feel pretty inadequate,” Percy says mildly, sipping his beer and. Well.

She hadn’t realised that.

They’d shouted at each other and she’d thought this was another time he’d been annoyed with her for not understanding what it was to grow up poor and thinking that she did. Inadequate. He’d felt  _ inadequate _ . 

As the conversation moves on inexplicably around them, Annabeth gets stuck on that word. She can’t contemplate how Percy feels that way about himself because he’s, well, he’s Percy. He’s more than enough. He always gives all of himself to everyone around him, he’s genuinely kind in a way that’s rare to find. And he’s, well, he’s perfect, really.

She knows he’s not. She knows he has flaws and she can see them more than anyone at his worst moments. She knows he can be obtuse and jealous and overly critical of himself and others. She knows he bites his nails and burps and has the worst time keeping of anyone she’s met.

She knows. And that’s probably what makes him perfect too.

When their group has split into smaller ones, Annabeth takes the opportunity to grab Percy’s hand and tilt her head towards the living room, a question in her eyes. He looks at her for a moment before nodding and squeezing her hand. 

She lets go as they leave the group and wind their way through the crowd towards a quiet space. Annabeth feels a sense of deja vu as she opens the bathroom door and holds it open for him. It’s considerably smaller than the last one they’d stood in together and this time Percy doesn’t comment on the number of sinks. Instead, he just stands with his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows raised as he watches her lock the door behind her.

“So,” she says.

And he smiles at that, takes a step forward and pulls his hands out of his pockets. 

She knows without asking what he wants. Because they haven’t really touched since she walked into the party (since she walked out of his mom’s apartment) and they’re Percy and Annabeth, so they always touch, even before this holiday. 

So she steps into the circle of his arms and rests her chin on his shoulder as he hugs her and she hugs him back.

“Is this why you kidnapped me?” Percy asks.

Annabeth steps out of his embrace, moving slowly and lingering before letting go completely and allowing some space between them.

“Not quite.”

Percy nods, like he already knew.

“I, um.” She frowns at the floor. “What you said out there? About the...about feeling inadequate.”

She hates the word. Hates it.

When she looks up, Percy’s jaw has clenched but his gaze holds hers. He breathes in through his nose and waits for her.

“I didn’t know,” she says. “I didn’t know that’s how it made you feel.”

She hears Percy’s breath blow out, watches his chest fall with it. “I thought - we argued about it.”

Annabeth shakes her head. “I didn’t realise that was why. I thought...I don’t know. I thought you were angry because my relations are assholes and my uncle is obnoxious about how much money he has and…”

“Oh,” he says.

She swallows. Then frowns at him.

“You know I don’t really know what the fourth fork is for either, right?”

Percy looks lost. “What?”

“On the table, with all the cutlery. I’ve got no fucking clue. My dad is wealthy but he donated most of his inheritance to the University. We didn’t grow up with that.”

“Okay.”

Annabeth sighs because she’s not sure he gets it. “Percy, when I tell you that money doesn’t mean anything to me, I know it might sound obnoxious to you because I grew up not having to worry about it. But what I mean is that I value other things more than wealth. Money doesn’t equal respect and I don’t need my boyfriend - fake or not - to be rich.”

Percy stares at her, biting his lip. He looks a little sad when his gaze drops. “I guess I felt like I couldn’t fit in with that life.”

_ With your life _ , he says but doesn’t say.

“Percy, my family loves you,” she reminds him. “And I’m not talking about my great aunt Felicity who once said I dress like a hobo when I wore ripped jeans.”

Percy chuckles. And Annabeth smiles.

“I don’t give a shit about her opinion, and neither should you,” she tells him. “You’re more than enough. Okay?”

Percy looks up at her through those long eyelashes and gives her a little smile. “Okay.”

Annabeth reaches for his hand and he gives it, letting their fingers tangle together gently. They’re standing close together now and Annabeth finally feels something close to comfortable again. But still, her body yearns to get closer. When she looks up to meet Percy’s eyes they are dark and intense and she just wants. She wants in a way that she thought might have faded over the time they’ve spent apart but hasn’t. She wants in a way that’s as desperate for skin on skin as it is for clothed embraces.

“You know,” Percy says - whispers - “I really enjoyed being your significant other.”

His words wrap around her bones and make her feel known, warm, caught - in the best way.

Annabeth grins. “Me too.”

And they’re close, she thinks, to where she wants to be. Another quiet moment, another confession, another few seconds, and they’ll be there.

But fate interrupts them again, with an impatient knock on the door, drawing them apart from one another with cleared throats.

This time, Annabeth doesn’t yell for them to find somewhere else. This time, she smiles at him and feels like he sees her, finally. This time, he follows her out and they keep close to one another’s sides as they wind through the party to find their friends again.

They’ve managed to claim a couple of couches and make room for Percy and Annabeth when they arrive. Piper sends Annabeth a questioning look which she doesn’t really give a response to because she’s not sure what it would be. If she and Percy hadn’t been interrupted in the bathroom, she’s pretty sure they would have kissed which is, objectively, great. But she’s not sure what to do now.

So she settles against Percy’s side and lets the others involve them in their conversation. She gets up and dances with Piper and Hazel and Leo for a bit before finding Percy’s side again and joins his conversation with Charles for a while too. She lets her hand fall on his thigh and watches his profile for too long when he’s talking enthusiastically to Charles about his final project next year. She just lets it happen and ignores the looks they get from the others who must realise, must see, that something has shifted between the two of them.

The party sort of carries on around them and before she knows it, someone announces that it’s one minute to midnight.

They’re not on the couch anymore, having been dragged off it by Piper, and are left lingering in the middle of the room. She spots Jason and Grover, but can’t really see anyone else. But anyway, Percy is standing right in front of her, so none of the rest of it really matters.

He’s got his hands in his pockets and he’s biting his lip, looking terribly nervous and it’s so endearing on him that Annabeth can’t help but smile at him. She steps closer and tugs on his wrists until he pulls his hands out of his pockets. Percy smiles too and links their hands and she knows what’s going to happen next.

It’s like she’s watching her own movie, ready for the countdown to begin, ready for the girl standing in front of a boy moment. Ready for the pieces to fall into place before the credits roll. And it’s not really as perfect as that, because someone knocks into her and it’s too loud in here as people start shouting,  _ ten, nine, eight _ . But she wouldn’t have it any other way, because Percy is holding onto her hands and saying,  _ seven, six, five _ , along with everyone else, but quietly, like it’s just to her. Like he’s counting down to something other than the end of the year.

Annabeth steps just a little closer, and he steps closer too, until there’s nothing really between them anymore. 

“Four, three, two,” they both whisper, inches apart, fingers still linked, chests pressed so close she can almost feel his heartbeat, hammering away.

_ One. _

Neither of them say it, because there’s already no space to. She tilts up and he tilts down and it’s everything and nothing like their first kiss. Surrounded by people, prompted by tradition, far too intense. But it’s settling and sure and Annabeth wraps her arms around his neck this time, letting go of his hands because she knows they will find her waist. And his heart, pressed against hers, calms down into a steadier beat. The room around them is gone, muffled into silence as they kiss and kiss and kiss. They kiss until they’re smiling too much to kiss anymore and Annabeth bumps her nose against his.

Percy’s eyes open slowly and find hers straight away, drawn like magnets, like they’d find her across a room, like she’s all he wants to see. Annabeth lets her hands fall over his shoulders and rest against his chest. She gasps in a little breath when his hand comes up to cradle the side of her neck, his thumb stroking along her jaw gently. And the room cheers on around them, entering into the New Year at full volume, but Annabeth is content in this quiet space they’ve created.

His eyes flit back and forth between hers. “Was that another fake kiss or a real kiss?” he asks, sounding just a little vulnerable.

Annabeth smiles at him and leans in close to tell him, “They’ve always been real.” 

His face opens into a smile that dimples his cheeks and fills Annabeth’s whole heart up with happiness. He rests his forehead against hers and here she is, at the final scene of the movie, waiting for the credits to roll. Except they don’t, because this isn’t a movie that ends. This just carries on and on, so they kiss again and laugh into it until their friends find them and scream until Annabeth feels like she’s gone deaf. And all the while, Percy keeps hold of her hand, squeezing like he never wants to let her go.

And here’s the other thing, he never has to.

 


	13. Monday 1st January 2018

**(Monday 1st September 2014)**

“You alright with that, sweetheart?”

Annabeth takes her suitcase handle from the cab driver and smiles. 

“I got it. Thanks.”

He gives her a dubious look as she grapples with her massive suitcase, backpack, and box on the sidewalk. 

“Alright,” he says. Then he gets back in his cab and drives away. 

Annabeth blows out a breath. This is it, really. This is the moment she’s been anticipating since she was seven years old and dreamt of finding somewhere she could belong. She’s here, at last. Standing in front of her new home for four years with all of her belongings around her. 

She’s more scared than she thought she’d be. 

She’s also not quite sure how she’s going to get all of this up to her dorm. Fortunately, she already has her key, unfortunately, she also knows that she’s on the third floor without any elevator access. 

Feeling only slightly daunted, Annabeth wedges the box under her arm and starts dragging herself and her belongings through the throng of students weaving around her, all with their own boxes and bags and relatives carrying lamps and flat pack boxes and pillows. Her heart thump thumps in her chest as she walks. It’s strange, she didn’t feel this lonely when she ran away all by herself at the age of seven and standing in a gas station trying to figure out if she could steal some jerky without the guy behind the counter noticing. She didn’t feel this lonely hiding under the covers at night when her step-mother had told her to stop being so silly and just go to sleep when she’d cried about her nightmares again. She didn’t feel this lonely standing in her father’s office telling him she was moving to New York state for college and he’d just nodded and told her,  _ Well done. _

There’d always been a sliver of possibility then. And she’d always been the one being ignored or hushed or left behind. Now she’s the one who’s left, properly, and she’s not going to be dragged back by cops this time.

It’s wildly disorientating.

She blames it on this fact when she crashes into someone coming out of the door to her building, just as she’s about to go in. She swears loudly and manages not to drop anything.

“Sorry! Are you alright?”

Annabeth looks up, puffing out a breath that catches. And catches and catches. Because wow, those are some green eyes. Or blue, possibly, she can’t be sure. They belong to a tanned boy with wild black hair and a concerned gaze that’s shifting into concern the longer she stares at him.

Right.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for nearly taking you out there.”

He laughs and gosh, he’s pretty when he laughs. Crinkles around his eyes and bubbles of laughter up his throat. He’s like sunshine, bottled into a teenage boy, she thinks.

“That’s okay. Can I give you a hand?”

“Oh, no. I’m fine.”

“Really, I’m all done. It’ll be no hassle.” He tilts his head a little until she meets his eyes and smiles when she does. “I wouldn’t want you taking anyone else out,” he adds.

“Well. Okay then.”

Annabeth never accepts help, so she’s a little shocked herself. She lets him take the box and then - upon his insistence - her backpack too, which is overstuffed and heavy. Her shoulders feel like they’re floating when she removes it. Then he holds the door open for her and follows her up the stairs, flight after flight, until they’re standing in front of her dorm room and she’s fishing her key out of her pocket.

“Huh,” he says.

She turns to raise her eyebrows at him as she twists the key in the lock. “What’s up?”

He smiles, lifting one side of his lips in a little quirk. “I guess it was meant to be - I’m your neighbour from across the hall.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.” He grins.

Annabeth laughs as she opens her door. “What a crazy coincidence.”

And she doesn’t really believe in fate, or anything like that, but this feels sort of significant.

Percy puts her stuff on the bed to their right after asking her and stands with his hands in his pockets near the door.

“So, uh. I guess I’ll be seeing you around then. Neighbour.”

She nods. “Yep.”

“Do you want a hand, or-?” he asks.

“Oh, no. It’s fine. Thank you though.”

He nods, rocking onto his heels. “Well, if you need anything, I’ll be…”

“Just across the hall,” she says.

“Right.”

He turns to leave and she bites her lip to stop the smile taking over her face. He’s so endearing. She can’t wait to find out what his faults are so he can become a real person to her. Just as he’s about to re-enter his own room, having left her door propped open, he turns on his heel again.

“I’m Percy, by the way.”

She smiles. “Annabeth.”

“Annabeth.”

Percy.

He grins again and disappears through his door.

Percy. It suits him.

* * *

 

It’s a couple of hours later, Annabeth has mostly unpacked her belongings. She’s met her roommate, who has much more stuff than her but seems nice. Her name is Piper and she’s incredibly beautiful and seems to be very wealthy and very good at trying to hide both of those things. She’s stacking her records while Annabeth tries to bring some semblance of order to her desk when there’s a knock at the door.

Piper groans and gets up to open it and Annabeth resumes her task of finding an outlet for her lamp. A moment later, Piper is tapping on her shoulder and leaning down to whisper in her ear.

“Some hottie with green eyes at the door for you,” she says with raised eyebrows.

Annabeth blanches and looks over her shoulder to see Percy standing in the doorway looking like he definitely heard what Piper said. He’s holding a plate in one hand and biting his lip.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi.”

“Well, I’m gonna meet my dad for coffee before he has to catch his flight,” Piper says, grabbing her jacket. “See you kids later.”

Then she’s gone, leaving Annabeth and Percy startled in her wake.

“Um,” he says. “I brought some of my mom’s cookies.”

“What?”

He tentatively steps into the room and holds the plate out. “My mom left me with a big batch of them and my roommate is lactose intolerant so he says he can’t eat them, so.”

“What if I’m lactose intolerant too?”

Percy’s face falls.

She laughs. “I’m kidding. That’s really sweet of you, come in.”

He grins, puffing out a laugh and stepping fully into the room, letting the door close behind him.

“Here,” she says, pushing some clothes off her bed so they can sit, shuffling up until their backs are against the wall.

Percy puts the plate on the bed between them and gestures for her to take one. She does, and god, they’re delicious.

“Fuck me,” she groans. “Your roommate is missing out.”

Percy chuckles. “He sure is.”

“What’s he like?” she asks around a mouthful of cookie.

“He’s nice. Seems like a really good guy, I think we’ll get along.”

“Sweet.”

“Yeah. How about you?”

Annabeth smiles. “Yeah she seems cool. She has way more stuff than I do. Look how barren my side looks next to hers.”

They’re looking at Piper’s side of the room from Annabeth’s bed, which is already adorned with posters and banners and photographs of Piper with her friends. Annabeth’s walls are bare but for a single poster of the blueprint of the Empire State Building which had been a parting gift from her half-brothers.

“I don’t have much stuff, either,” Percy says.

“Where’re you from?”

“Manhattan.”

“Oh, super close then.”

He laughs. “Yeah. What can I say? I’m an East coast guy. What about you?”

“Well, I hope this doesn’t change your opinion of me but, California.”

Percy blows out a breath. “Geez. To think, this could have been a beautiful friendship.”

She laughs, hitting his arm playfully. “Asshole.”

He laughs too, rubbing his arm where she hit him. “Kidding,” he says, needlessly.

She shakes her head. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t have so much stuff.”

“Did your family drop you off?”

She shakes her head. “Nah. We’re not that close, I guess.”

And wow, she really needs to stop oversharing with a relative stranger.

“Sorry,” Percy says.

She shrugs, feeling awkward.

But then Percy’s shoulder bumps against hers and he’s smiling at her kindly. “Great opportunity for a fresh start, huh?”

Slowly, she smiles too, letting it grow like sunlight at dawn. Creeping, creeping until it’s full blown and hurting her cheeks a little bit and she can’t stop it.

“Yeah,” she says. “A fresh start.”

And Annabeth thinks, as they sit on her bed in her new dorm eating his mom’s chocolate chip cookies, that Percy might be the kind of friend she wants to have for a long time.

* * *

 

 

**Monday 1st January 2018**

Annabeth wakes up slowly, feeling the tendrils of a slight hangover pulling at her skull. She feels heavy and her mouth is dry but mostly, mostly she feels warm and sleepy. She feels content in a way that makes her think she fell asleep happy.

Then she rolls over and finds the source of that happiness with his face half smushed into his pillow. His pillow which is also her pillow because she hadn’t noticed until now, that they’re in each other’s space. Percy’s arm is thrown over her waist and their legs had been pushed together. She tangles them again now, tucking her own arm around him as she presses closer still, bridging the small gap between them to kiss his forehead.

And even now, there’s this tiny fleeting moment that goes, okay, that’s enough, you need to get ready to leave now. Her body even starts to withdraw from him.

But then it comes back to her, the warmth and the memories and the happiness. 

Their kiss at midnight, the following kisses afterwards, his hand in hers as their friends had descended upon them, their arms around each other as they’d stumbled back to his mom’s apartment and into his bed. They’d shared some sleepy kisses before eventually drifting off, too tired and too aware of their very close neighbours to contemplate anything more.

Annabeth smiles to herself and brushes some of Percy’s hair back from his face, watching as he stirs slowly. He makes that little noise first, the breath in through the nose and then the protesting groan. Then he pulls her closer and blearily opens his eyes, letting a smile spread across his face when he sees her.

“Morning,” he mumbles, sleep soft and sweet.

Annabeth laughs gently, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “Good morning.”

He chases her lips and she winds up leaning over him to kiss his lips, ignoring their morning breaths and her dry mouth and the fact that her arm is getting pins and needles. Because who cares about all of that when she’s kissing Percy Jackson? 

She’s kissing Percy Jackson. Her best friend, her fake boyfriend, and the biggest crush.

(Her first real love?)

Percy tugs her closer until she’s rolling halfway on top of him and he’s licking into her mouth and she’s rolling her hips down and catching his breath in her mouth. He’s making these little noises and pressing his fingers into the skin of her hip and at the base of her spine and she  _ wants _ .

She presses her hands against his chest and pushes herself up, laughing when he tries to follow. Then she’s sitting in his lap and smiling down at him. His hands fall to her thighs and he blinks at her slowly, looking so incredibly inviting.

“I really want to fuck right now, but your family is down the hall,” she tells him frankly.

Percy groans, gripping her thighs before he sits up and pushes her off him. Annabeth lands on her back amongst the sheets and pillows and stares dumbfoundead at Percy as he tries to pull a pair of his jeans on backwards.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asks, torn between feeling put-out and amused.

Percy frowns at his jeans and then her. “I’m getting up so we can get an early train back to campus and have sex in my apartment.”

Annabeth laughs, delighted and crawls onto her knees. She grabs at his sleeve and drags him back onto the bed with her, laughing still as he stumbles out of his jeans. 

“Come back here,” she mutters. “I’ve been craving this for almost a week.”

Percy falls back onto her heavily, grinning, laughing. “Craving me?”

Annabeth presses her face into his neck, unashamed. “Yes.”

He rolls them around until they’re comfortable and cuddles her closer. “God,” he says. “I’ve been craving you too.”

She laughs at how ridiculous they sound.

“We were so dumb.”

He sighs. “We were. I can’t believe I could ever think any of that was fake.”

Annabeth smiles, comforted that he feels as she does. “I was gone as soon as you kissed me under the mistletoe.”

“I think I was gone when you asked me to go to San Francisco with you,” Percy says.

Annabeth lifts her head to look at him. He’s watching her with a quiet, honest expression. She bites her lip and brushes her fingertip over his eyebrow lightly.  She traces the side of his face with it, up the bridge of his nose and over his closed eyelids. He’s so soft and pliant beneath her, so trusting and sweet.

And that’s who he’s always been to her, really.

Open, trusting, kind.

Ever since she crashed into him out of a whole campus of strangers. Ever since he helped her move in and then sat on her bed and shared his mom’s cookies with her.

“I think I’ve loved you since I met you,” she whispers with her fingertips over his lips.

She feels the breath woosh out of him. Feels the intensity of his gaze as it flits between her eyes. And it’s sort of a terrifying confession to have just made, and the moment drags out, like melted glass stretched between two rods, but it doesn’t  _ feel  _ scary. It feels significant. It feels like something he deserves to hear.

And: “I think I’ve loved you since then, too.”

Annabeth smiles. She smiles so her cheeks hurt and so that when she kisses him it’s all teeth against teeth. She smiles and lets the feeling tingle down to her toes and then she presses them against Percy’s calves as he smiles into their kisses. She smiles because she’s never felt this happy, really, and because it feels so good to feel this happy.

She smiles through another ten minutes of kissing him until they get uncomfortable. She smiles as they drag each other out of bed and brush their teeth next to each other in the bathroom. She smiles as they hold hands when they walk into the kitchen and Sally watches them for a beat before she’s grinning at them too.

“There’s cookies on the side,” she says, even though it’s half past ten.

And because he’s Percy, he pours them both a glass of milk instead of a cup of coffee, and they sit at the kitchen table with the plate of cookies between them. And she hooks her ankle around his and laughs around her cookie and she thinks that Percy is the person she wants to have for a long time.

Forever, if she can.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and it's done :)
> 
> honestly, soph and i had no idea that this fic would get the sort of reaction it has and we're so damn grateful. we posted the wimbledon au over a massively spaced out time and this is the first time (for me, in a long long time) that we've updated a fic so regularly lmao. so while this has meant a few late nights and lack of proper editing to post updates on time (ish), it's been a massive amount of fun, and we've been so glad to have you guys along for the ride <3
> 
> i hope you all have a wonderful 2018 and you can be sure to look forward to more AUs from us xx


End file.
